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Marvels of the New West, 



A VIVID PORTRAYAL OP' THE STUPENDOUS MARVELS IN 

THE VAST WONDERLAND WEST OF 

THE MISSOURI RIVER. 



SIX BOOKS IN ONE VOLUME, 



COMI'RISINC 

MARVELS OF NATURE, MARVELS OF RACE, MARVELS OF 

ENTERPRISE, MARVELS OF MINING, MARVELS 

OF STOCK-RAISING, AND MARVELS 

OF AGRICULTURE, 

GRAPHICALLY AND TRUTHFULLY DESCRIBED 

BY ^ 

WILLIAM M. THAYER, 

Author of over Twenty standard Works, including "The White House 

Series of Biographies," and "Youths' History of the 

Rehellion," in 4 Vols. 

ILLUSTRATED WITH OVER 

THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FINE ENGRAVINGS AND MAPS. 



Mov/Viv:;/5, 



v>i7.i)^7 



NORWICH, CONN.: 

THE HENRY BILL PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

1887. 



Copyright, 18S7, 
By William M. Thayer. 



All rights reserved. 



SOLD ONLY BY SUBSCRIPTION. 



Electrotyped by J. S. Gushing & Co., Boston. 



Presswork by Berwick & Smith, Boston. 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION. 

PAGB 

The New West, where and what is it ? Marvellous Boundaries ; Great 
Things attempted ; Capacity for Population ; Average Moral Charac- 
ter; No "Far West" now; Eastern Errors about Western Life; De- 
sign of this Book ; Next to Seeing ; " Wonderland " ; Testimony of 
Others ; Marvels only xxvii 

I. 

MARVELS OF NATURE. 

Rocky Mountain Scenery; Testimony of Bayard Taylor and William A. 

Baillie-Grohman 3 

CANONS. 
The Arkansas Canon : Description and Royal Gorge ; Visit by Tourists . 5 

Thk Black Canon : Its Character ; Curricauti's Needle ; Gateway to Price 

River Canon 6 

PLATTii Canon: Grandeur; Crookedness; Wonderful Rocks; a Tourist's 

Description 10 

Boulder Canon : How to enter it ; Dome Rock 11 

Clear Creek Canon: Entrance and Course; Henry James" Description; 
Sculpture by Wind and Water ; The Double Head ; Wagon Road ; Old 
Man of the Mountains; View from Gray's Peak and James' Description; 

The Holy Cross Mountain 12 

Williams' Canon : Its Location ; Rainbow Falls ; Devil's Gate : Remark- 
al)le Cave: More Remarkable Rock-Formations; Dr. Taylor's Descrip- 
tion: UtePass; Manitou ; Railway up Pike's Peak 17 

Chkvenxe Canox : Where ; The Seven Falls : Words of a Visitor ... 26 
Echo Canon: Grand Scenery; Nature's Pulpit; Description by Another; 

Hanging Rock: Devil's Slide: Pulpit Rock 26 

American Fork Canon: Picturesque and Grand ; HippoiJotamus Rock . . 31 



iv CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Grand Canon of the Colorado : Grandest of All ; explored by United 
States Government; White and Strobe Walls 6,200 Feet High; Per- 
mian Butte; PinkClifts; Domes and Towers ; Vishnu's Temple ... 34 
Marble Canon : Belongs to Grand Canon ; Button's Description .... 44 

Kanab Canon : Belongs to Grand Canon : What Button says 46 

Land of thk Standing Rocks: Very Wonderful ; Faithful Representation, 48 

Albiquii Peak : In New Mexico ; What Captain Macomb says of it . . . 48 
Casa Colorado Butte: In New Mexico; examined and described by 

Macomb 50 

Forest of (jOTHk: Spikes: Remarkable Spectacle : as seen by Macomb . 51 

The Needles : Graphic Description 52 

Cabazon: Its Surroundings ; 1,500 Feet High 53 

Painted Columns 54 

Sandstone Formations: In Arizona; Description of them by Cozzens . . 56 
City of Enchantment : View by Morning Light ; Mr. Cozzen's Vivid De- 
scription ; Testimony of Eye-Witnesses 56 

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 

History of its Exploration ; "Wonderland" 59 

The Mammoth Hot Springs : What they are ; described by Mr. W' isner . 60 
Great Falls of the Yellowstone : Its Location ; Falls 3,000 Feet ; Grand 

Scenery ; Statement by Gannett 63 

Grand Canon of the Yellowstone : Magnificent Scene ; described by 

Dr. Wayland Hoyt , 65 

Obsidian Cliffs: What are they? described by Wisner 68 

Tower Falls : Surrounding Scene ; W' ords of the Superintendent and Lieu- 
tenant Doane 70 

Kepler's Cascades : Beautiful ; described by Wisner . 72 

Palace Butte: An Imposing Natural Structure 72 

GEYSERS. 

Upper Geyser Basin 72 

Old Faithful : Described by Lieutenant Doane, of the United States 

Survey, and Dr. Hayden 75 

Bee Hive: Whence its Name; described by Two Members of the United 

States Survey 77 

The Giantess: A Mighty Spouter; Mr. Langford's Testimony .... 77 
Fan Geyser : Whence its Name ; What Lieutenant Doane and Dr. Hayden 

say: Table of Geysers; Remarks of a Tourist about Geyser Basin and 

Yellowstone Park So 



CONTENTS. 



YOSEMITE VALLEY. 

PAGE 

Location and History 82 

Cathedral Rock : Its Height ; What a Traveller says 83 

El Capitan : Grand beyond Description ; Words of an Eye-Witness ... 85 

Bkidal Veil Fall : Beautiful ; described by Bentley 87 

YosE.Mi'ji-: Falls: Compared with Niagara ; Bentley's Description . ... 89 
Nevada Fall: Its.J^lunge; described by Bentley : Liberty Cap .... 90 
Se.ntlnel Rock: Like Obelisk; Formation described by Ludlow .... 91 
Tin; Bio Trees: Section of Big Tree; Table of Calaveras trees: Stage 
driven through Hole in a Tree ; Racy Account from the New West ; Pio- 
neer Cabin ; Professor Whitney's Catalogue of Trees and Measurement . 93 

GARDEN (JE THE GODS. 

Where situated 98 

The Gateway: Described; Testimony of a Traveller 99 

Bear and Seal : Soldier near by, and Rocky Monster 99 

The Grandmother: Words of Dr. Mary E. Blake; Words of Another . 100 
Balance Rock: Description ; Profile on it; Words of Dr. B. F. Taylor . . 102 
Natural Window : Action of Water in creating these Marvels, by Profes- 
sor Edwards 104 

Cathedral Spires: Remarks; Words of Fossett 106 

MONUMENT PARK. 

Its Location 106 

Gkoui' of Monuments: Opinion of Geologists ; a Curious Incident ; a Trav- 
eller's Testimony 108 

The Sentinel: Why so named 109 

The Duchess: Greatest Marvel; No Exaggeration no 

MISCELLANEOUS. 

Shoshone Falls : Where ; a Traveller's Description no 

San Pedro's Wife: Near San Francisco ; a Lighthouse 113 

Do.nner Lake: Its Beauty and Name 113 

Multnomah Falls: Its Plunge ; Descrii)tion 115 

Pillars ok Hercules: What a Writer says 115 

Pyramid Park : Remarks by Professor Denton : Words of Another ; the 

Cathedral 118 

Buttes near Green River Citv: Remarkable Exhibition 118 



vi CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Palisades of Wagon Wheel Gap : Where ; Story of the Place ; Magnifi- 
cent Heights 1 20 

Castellated Rocks: In Wyoming; Extent and Grandeur ...... 123 

Rhoda's Arch 123 

Grand Coulee — Imposing Spectacle 123 

Valley of the Laughing Waters: In l' tab ; compared with Yosemite 

Valley 125 

Church, Castle and Fortress: In Montana; Rare Specimen of Nature's 

Handiwork 125 

Indian Rock: In Columbia River ; Superstition of the Indians 127 

The Old Woman of the Mountain : In Montana ; the Region round 

about it 127 

Remarks on Natural Walls 128 

Natural Flagstones, etc 129 

Fishing on the Mountains: Over 11,000 Feet above the Sea; Bierstadt's 

Subject; how reached 130 

Petrified Forest : In Arizona; Graphic Description by Mr. Cozzens . . 131 

Summit of Italian Mountain 133 

Arizona Cacti described ; What Captain Dutton says 133 



II. 

MARVELS OF RACE. 

The New West Oldest 135 

The Spaniards possessed the Land 136 

Discovery of an Ancient Race 137 

CAVE-DWELLERS. 

Description of their Houses 137 

Age and Origin 138 

Cave-dwellers on McKlmo 139 

A Cave-Town restored 140 

The Casa Griuuic, Ancient and Grand 141 

Race in the Gila Valley 143 

Found in New Mexico 144 

In Canon de Chaco 144 

In the Rio Mancos 146 



CONTENTS. vii 
CLIFF-DWELLERS. 

PAGE 

Their Dwellings described by Holmes 146 

Dwellings in Rio San Juan, described by Jackson 150 

Estiifas. — Traces of Religious Rites 154 

Holmes on Ruins of Southwestern Colorado 155 

Heights almost Inaccessible 157 

In Labyrinth Caiion, and Remarks of Crofutt 158 

Jackson's Discoveries in New Mexico 161 

Explanation by Abbd Dominech 163 

Picture-Writing on Walls 165 

Explanation by Holmes 167 

Ancient Pottery 16S 

Remains of Human Beings 171 

The Guide's Legendary Tale i7i 

PUEBLOS. 

What?— Their History 172 

Description of a Pueblo, or Town 173 

Professor Zahm's Observation 177 

The Race at Sante Fe 179 

Three Civilizations 180 

Mrs. Wallace's Observation and Description 182 

Implements and Customs Like those of Palestine 183 

Acoma and its Inhabitants 184 

Pecos and its People 186 

ZUNIS. 

Frank D. Cushing among them 187 

Zuni Town : Location and Description 188 

Cushing's Entrance into the Town 190 

Altars and Incantation Scene 193 

Industrious and Intelligent 193 

Thirteen Orders of Society 195 

Making a Zuiii of Mr. Cushing 196 

Hospitable and Truthful, Dress, Antiquity 199 

Their Traditions • 200 

Palestine Customs here 200 

Cushing's Description of a Festival 201 

MOQUIS. 

Like the Zunis, yet Different 206 

Descripdon of them at Home 207 



Vlll 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Living on nearly Inaccessible Heights 208 

Cozzen's Visit and Personal Observations 208 

MEXICANS. 

Like the Pueblos . 210 

Some of their Habits and Customs 211 

How they till the Soil 211 

Mexican Women 214 

The Dance and Funeral 215 

Penitenties 215 

Every-day Life 216 

Art of making Pottery 219 

III. 
MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE, 

" Great American Desert " and its Perils 220 

Fremont raising Flag on Rocky Mountains 224 

History of Fremont's Hardships , 225 

Rush to California in 1848 232 

Gold-Seeking in Colorado in 1858 233 

Reign of Terror among Settlers 238 

Colonel Chivington's Battle with Red Men 240 

A Pioneer Woman's Hardship 246 

The Indian and Buffalo disappearing 253 

Stage Line across the Plains 256 

Progress in carrying Mails 259 

The Pony Express 261 

Growth of Business 264 

Railroad across the Continent 266 

First and Last Depot 269 

What Indians thought of Railroads 271 

Ten Miles built in One Day 273 

United States Government vindicated 274 

Growth of Population 276 

RAILROADS OVER MOUNTAINS. 

Through the Royal Gorge 278 

Over Marshall Pass 280 

Trip through Platte Canon 283 



CONTENTS. 



IX 



PAGE 

Heavy Work and Timber Line 285 

Through Challi Creek Canon and Alpine Tunnel 287 

Around the Palisades 291 

The Runaway Train 293 

Snowbound and Snow-Sheds 296 

Over Veta Pass with its Wonders 300 

Crossing Sangre de Christo Range and Whiplash Railway 301 

Through Toltec Tunnel 305 

The (jarfield Monument 308 

Dogtown and Beavertown 309 

Through Animas Canon 312 

The Switchback and Loop 314 

Over the Raton Mountains 317 

The Loop at Tehachapi Pass 317 

Rounding Cape Horn 318 

American River Canon and the Calumet Railroad 320 

Railway Hospitals 323 

Missouri River and Marant (kilch Railroad Bridge 324 

Mammoth Ferry-Boat 327 

PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 
Omaha, Nebraska : Buildings show Enterprise ; School-House ; Court- 

House 329 

Portland, Oregon : View of it, and Business ; High School ; Newspapers ; 

Business Block ; Contrast ; State-House ; Insane Asylum 332 

Tacoma, W. T. : Thrift ; Hotel; Business Blocks ; House of Worship: Sem- 
inary ; School-House -iiyi 

Butte City, Montana: Business Boom; View of City; Court-House; 

Churches; Schools; Helena 341 

Idaho : Origin of Name ; View of 15oise City ; Capitol Square 345 

Cheyenne, Wyoming : Early History ; School-House 350 

First and Last Capitol of Kansas 35 1 

Gunnison City, Colorado : Magic Growth : Costly Hotel 35 1 

Denver, Colorado : Desert and Garden ; Growth and Business ; Union 
Depot; First and Last Capitol; Tabor Opera House; Windsor Hotel; 
Superior Public Schools; Dr. Philbrick's Testimony; High School Build- 
ing; Libraries; Private Schools ; Churches 355 

GROWTH OF COLONIES. 
Greeley, Colorado : Its History, by Cameron ; Foundation Principles ; High 
School: First Place of Worship ; First and Last Hotel : Business Blocks 



.- CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

and Business; Anti-Saloon iMeasure ; Life of Meeker; Capture of Mrs. 

Meeker and Daughter Z^l 

Colorado Springs : The Antlers ; Location and Description of the Town ; 

College 389 

THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 
San Francisco, California : Gold and Business ; Progress of the City ; State 
Capitol ; City Hall ; Palace Hotel ; Lick Observatory ; Palatial Residen- 
ces ; Remarkable Health Resorts ; a Hundred Years from Now ... 391 

THE MORMON SETTLEMENT. 
Great Business Enterprise ; Description of Salt Lake City ; Thrift in Agri^ 

culture 404 

RAILROAD KINGS. 
Brief Biographies: Oakes Ames; Oliver Ames; C. P. Huntington; 

Charles Crocker; Leland Stanford; Sidney Dillon; David H. Moffat, 406 



IV. 

MARVELS OF MINING. 

Discovery of Gold by Marshall in 1848 429 

Captain Sutter and the End 43° 

Richness of the Mines 43' 

Remarkable Increase of Population 433 

Immense Fortunes realized 435 

Industrial Mining Exposition 43^ 

The Prospector 43^ 

Intelligence and Tact Indispensable 44° 

Stumbling upon Mines 44^ 

Placer Mining 446 

Gulch Mining 449 

Hydraulic Mining 449 

Lode Mining 45° 

Drift Mining 45 1 

Going into a Mine • 453 

Weights, Values, and Measurements 45^ 

Reduction of Ores: Stamp Mill; Quartz Mill 459 

Smelting 462 



CONTENTS. xi 

PAGE 

Leadville: Its Sudden Growth. — Location. — Hotel. — Art Palace. — 
Appearance of City. — Business. — Schools and School-Houses. — Its 
Bullion Output. — Origin of the Gold-Find. — Bonanza Mines. — Mines 

Inexhaustible 463 

Profits of Mining 47^ 

Leading Mines of Colorado 479 

The Mariposa Estate • 480 

The Mother Lode 483 

Richest Mines in California 484 

Nuggets 487 

Arizona: Silver-Bearing. — Apaches hinder. — Great Mines 490 

Dakota, and its Richest Mines 493 

Idaho and its Wealthy Mines 494 

Montana, and its Wonderful Bullion Product 49^ 

Nevada: Its Harvest of Silver. — The Famous Comstock Lode, and its 

Fabulous Yield 5°° 

New Mexico : Present Mining Output and Future Promise 503 

Utah : Wealth of its Gold and Silver Mines. — Rich Iron Mines .... 506 

Wyoming: Gold. — Copper. — Coal 5^9 

Oregon and Washington : Estimate of the Director of the United States 

Mint 511 

Product of Precious Metals in the New West 512 

Will the Mines fail? SU 

Additional Facts and Statistics 514 

Gems 520 

Morals of Mining Camps 5-° 

Mining Kings: Horace A. W. Tabor, John L. Routt. John P. Jones, James 

G. Fair, Jerome B. Chaftee, Nathaniel P. Hill, J. F. Matthews ... 524 



V. 

MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 

Paradise of Stock-Raisers: Immense Herds of the New West. — Acres of 

Grazing Lands. — How it was from 1850-70 535 

What Cattle eat : Description of the Grasses 538 

The Cattle Ranch: How to get one. — Cattle on the Range. — The 

Stockman on Duty 54 1 

Profits of Stock-Raising : Estimate by Dakota Editor. — Hayes. — Fosset. 
— One Cow's Family. — Estimate by Clark and Ulm. ^ Whigham. — 
Other Estimates and Facts. — A Scotchman's Estimate. — Dressed Beet, 547 



xu 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

The Cowboy : Not understood. — His Defence by the Oregon Editor. — 

An Incident 561 

The Round-up: What it is, and where. — Citizen joining the Round-up. — 
Description by a Kansas Ranchman. — Perils of the Round-up. — De- 
scription of Horses used. — Cattle-Brands. — "Cutting Out." — Brand- 
ing Calves. — Beef Round-up. — Driving Cattle to Railroad. — " Blabbing 
Calves." — The Chicago Stockyards. — Cattle in Extreme Cold. — The 
Enemies of Cattle and Horses. — The Herd and Prairie Fire .... 568 

The Sheep Ranch: Extent of the Business. — Estimate of Profits by 
Hayes. — By Idaho Official. — By Fossett. — In Montana. — In Kansas. 
— Other Facts. — Breeds. — Shearing. — Sheep on Union Pacific Rail- 
road. — Life on Sheep Ranch. — Incidents on a Ranch. — Latest Sheep 
Rack. — Sheep thrive in all lands 594 

A Woman on a Cattle Ranch 608 

Cattle Kings: John H. Iliff, Jared L. Brush, Charles Lux, R. G. Head, 

Thomas H. Lawrence, John W. Snyder, John T. Lytle 616 



VI. 

MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 

The Facts too Large for Belief 628 

Now, the Facts not Large enough 630 

Current Reports from Journals of the Day 631 

Methods of Agriculture: How a Farm of 30,000 Acres is plowed. — 
Steam-Plowing. — History of Wheat-Harvesting. — Seeding Wheat. — 
Wonders of Harvesting. — Words of Another. — Threshing by Steam. — 
Wheat and Blizzards. — Real Facts about Land " Unfit for Cultivation " . 637 
Kansas: The Hub. — The Geographical Centre. — "Corn is King." — Sound 
Corn. — Facts about Wheat. — The Status of Oats and Other Products. 

— Income and Value of Farms. — The Floral Wealth of Kansas. — 
Broom Corn. — Tree-Planting 649 

Nebraska: Originates "Arbor Day." — Generous Laws. — Her Example 

Contagious. — United States Government Aids 658 

Railroad Companies planting Trees 659 

Montana: Pioneer Farmers and their Success. — What Agricultural Bureau 

.says. — Strahom on Montana, with Figures that won't lie 662 

Dakota : An Empire. — Exhibit at New Orleans. — Words of E. V. Smalley. 

— A Great Wheat Farm. — The Dalrymple Farm of 75.000 Acres. — 
Amusing and Instructive Letter. — A Stubborn Fact 671 



CONTENTS. xiii 

I'ACR 

Idaho: Its Great Resources. — How 300,000 Acres are opened to Settlers. 

— Testimony of Two Eye-Witnesses 678 

California : The Cornucopia of the World. — Its Two Seasons. — Remark- 
able Crowths. — ^ Words of Nordhoff. — Hop-Raising. — Raisin-Making. 

— Wine-Making. — Orange Culture. — Alfalfa. — Miscellaneous Facts . 682 
Colorado: Its Agricultural Domain. — Marvellous Parks. — Testimony of 

Farmers in San Luis Park. — Reports of Immense Products 695 

Arizona : Its Large Area of Fertile Land. — Report of Several Experiments. 

— Other Facts 698 

Wyoming and Washington : Proofs of Fertility. — Letter of a Resident . 699 
Irrigation: Its Advantage. — Remarks of a Writer. — Ditch in Kansas. — 

Irrigation by Flooding. — Great Land Scheme. — Irrigating in San Luis 
Park. — Extent of Irrigation in Colorado, with J. Max Clark's Description 
of it. — Cost of Irrigation. — Irrigating an Orchard in California. — 
Underground Irrigation 702 

CONCLUSION. 

What we have seen. — God in this History. — Why Pilgrims landed on a 
Rock and not on a Gold Mine. — (Greatest Christian Nation meant. — 
Result if Gold instead of Granite. — View of A. Carnegie. — The 
New West paying our Debt. — American Credit higher than English. — 
The New West will decide our Destiny. — Anglo-Saxon Race to rule. — 
One Language and Purpose. — Remarks of Herbert Spencer. — Intem- 
perance. — Mormonism and Other Isms. — Power of Liberty, Education, 
and Christianity 710 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



I'ORTRAITS. 

I'AflE 

Railroad Kings : O.ikes Ames, Oliver Ames, C. P. Huntington, Charles 

Croclver, Lcland Stanford, Sidney Dillon, David H. Moffat 407 

IMiNiNG KiN(;.s: Horace A. W. Tabor, John L. Routt, John F. Jones, James 

G. Fair, Jerome B. Chaffee, Nathaniel P. Hill, J. F. Matthews .... 523 

Catti.k Kings: John H. Iliff, Jared L. Brush, Charles Lux, R. C. Head, 

Thomas H. Lawrence, John W. Snyder, John T. Lytle 623 



I. MARVELS OF NATURE. 
Frontispiece. 

(Jrand Canon of the Arkansas 4 

The Royal Corge 5 

The Black Canon 7 

Curricauti's Needle 8 

Castle Gate 9 

Rift in the Rocks 10 

Dome Rock 12 

The Double Head 13 

The Old Man of the Mountains 14 

Gray's ]'eak 15 

Mount of the Holy Cross 17 

Williams' Canon 18 

Rainbow Falls 19 

Devil's Gate 20 

Cave of the Winds 21 

Castle Rock 22 

Pillar of Jupiter 22 

Freight Teams climbing Ute Pass 23 

Manitou and Pike's Peak 24 

Pike's Peak Railway 26 

The Seven Falls 27 

Pulpit Rock 28 



xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Hanging Rock = .,... 29 

Devil's Slide 3° 

Pulpit Rock 32 

Hippopotamus Rock ZZ 

Climbing the Grand Canon of the Colorado 34 

Permian Butte 36 

Vermilion Cliffs 38 

Pink Cliffs 40 

Dome and Towers 41 

Vishnu's Temple 43 

Marble Canon 45 

Land of the Standing Rocks 46 

Kanab Canon 47 

Albiquiu Peak 48 

Casa Colorado Butte 50 

Forest of Gothic Spires 51 

The Needles 52 

Cabazon 53 

Painted Columns 54 

Natural Sandstone Formations i'^ 

A City not made with Hands 57 

Mammoth Hot Springs 61 

Great Falls of the Yellowstone 64 

Grand Canon of the Yellowstone 66 

Obsidian Cliffs 68 

Tower Falls 69 

Kepler's Cascades on the Firehole River 71 

Palace Butte -j-^ 

Old Faithful Geyser 74 

Bee Hive Geyser 76 

The Giantess Geyser 78 

Fan Geyser 79 

Cathedral Rock 84 

Bridal \'eil Fall 85 

El Capitan 86 

Yosemite Falls 88 

Liberty Cap 90 

Sentinel Rock 91 

Section of a Big Tree 93 

Stage Line 95 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 

Pioneer Cabin g(3 

Gateway to the Garden of the Gods qq 

I GO 



Bear and Seal . 
The Grandmother 



Balance Rock 



roi 



[02 



Window in a Rock loi 

Cathedral Spires iqr 

Monument Park 107 

Group of Monuments 108 

The Sentinel ion 

The Duchess no 

Shoshone Falls 1 1 1 

San Pedro's Wife ; or, The Woman of the Period 112 

Donner Lake 114 

Multnomah Falls 115 

Pillars of Hercules 116 

Pyramid Park 118 

Green River City and Buttes 119 

Wagon Wheel Gap 120 

Rhoda's Arch 121 

Castellated Rocks 122 

Grand Coulee 123 

The Valley of the Laughing Waters 1 24 

Indian Rock 125 

Church, Casde, and Fortress 126 

Old Woman of the Mountain 127 

Forms of Walls 129 

Fishing on the Mountains 130 

Petrified Forest 131 

Summit of Italian Mountain 132 

Arizona Cacti 133 

II. MARVELS OF RACE. 

Cave-Town near the San Juan 138 

Ancient Cave-Dwellings on the McElmo 139 

A Cave-Town Restored 141 

The Casas Grandes in 1859 14- 

A Tower in McElmo Valley 143 

Ruins in the Canon de Chaco I45 

Restored Tower and Cliff-Houses I47 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



House in a Rock of Montezuma Canon 149 

Two-Storied Clift-House 150 

Cliff-House on the Mancos 153 

Ground Plan of Last-Named Cliff-House 1 54 

Cliff-Dwellings, Mancos Canon 155 

Cliff-House in the Canon de Chelly 156 

Cliff-Dwellings, Southern Colorado 159 

Cliff and Cliff-Houses 160 

Ground Plan of the Pueblo Bonito in the Chaco Canon 162 

A Pueblo restored by Lieutenant Simpson 164 

El More, or Inscription Rock 166 

Rock Inscriptions 167 

Vases found on the Banks of the San Juan 1 69 

Fragments of Pottery 169 

A Drinking- Vessel from Zufii 170 

A Drinking-Vessel from Old Zuni 170 

Photograph of a Human Skull found One Hundred and Thirty Feet Deep in 

the Earth 171 

Pueblo of Laguna 1 74 

Pueblo of Taos, New Mexico 175 

Adobe Oven 177 

The Oldest House in the United States 178 

The Adobe Palace 179 

The Oldest Church in America 181 

Pueblo and Cart 183 

Primitive Agriculture 184 

Burro loaded with Wood 184 

An Ancient Wheelbarrow 185 

Acoma 185 

Pecos 186 

Zuni 189 

Zufii Altars and Incantation Scene 193 

Zuni Vegetable Garden 193 

Zuni Farm-House 194 

The Moquis Pueblos 208 

Life in New Mexico 210 

Mexican Cart and Plough 211 

Mexican Flour-Mill 212 

Adobe Fireplace 213 

Mexican Pottery 218 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



III. MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 

PAGE 

Raising the Flag 223 

Encountering the Blizzard 227 

Leaving the Weak to Die 229 

Over the Plains then 233 

Lightning Express 234 

Crossing the Plains with a Hand-Cart 236 

Perils of D. C. Oakes 237 

Capture of Spotted Horse 238 

Perils by Indians 240 

Mrs. Tabor's Cabin 247 

Crossing the Plains now 254 

Herd of Buffalo stopping the Train 255 

Stage attacked by Indians 257 

Snow Skates 260 

Pony Express Station 262 

Pony Express in Mountain Storm 263 

Fargo and Wells Express 264 

Fifty-four Thousand Pounds 263 

Driving the Last Spike 267 

First Office 269 

Central Pacific Depot 270 

Indians' First View of the Cars 271 

Locating the Line 278 

Marshall Pass 282 

Head of South Park 284 

Stage Line over Mosquito Pass 285 

Near Breckenridge on Way to Leadville 286 

Above Timber Line 287 

Chalk Creek Canon 288 

Scene in South Park 289 

Around the Palisades 291 

The Runaway Train 293 

Uncompahgre Peaks 295 

Snow Galleries, Sierra Nevada Mountains 296 

Interior of Snow-Sheds -97 

The Great Snow-Plough 298 

Railroad above the Clouds 3°° 

Crossing Sangre de Christo Range 3°! 

Fort Garland 3°^ 



XX LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 



The Whiplash 303 

Lot's Wife 304 

Phantom Curve 305 

Toltec Tunnel 306 

West End of the Toltec Tunnel 307 

Garfield Monument 308 

Dogtown 309 

Beavertown 310 

Canon of the Rio Las Animas 311 

Animas Canon and Needles 313 

The High Line Road between Black Hawk and Central City 314 

The Loop 315 

Crossing the Raton Mountains 316 

The Loop, Tehachapi Pass 318 

Over Tunnel and Loop 319 

Rounding Cape Horn 320 

American River Canon 321 

Central Pacific Railroad Hospital 323 

Marent Gulch Bridge 325 

Steamer " Solano " 328 

High School Building, Omaha 330 

Court-House 331 

High School Building, Portland 333 

Portland, Oregon 335 

The Kamm Block 336 

State House 337 

Insane Asylum 338 

The Tacoma Hotel 339 

Butte City 342 

Court-House 343 

Boise City 347 

Capitol Square 348 

Central School Building 349 

First Capitol of Kansas . 350 

Last Capitol of Kansas 350 

Gunnison in 1879 351 

La Veta Hotel, Gunnison 352 

Union Depot 358 

First Capitol of Colorado 359 

Last Capitol of Colorado 360 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxi 



FACE 



Tabor Grand Opera House 361 

Windsor Hotel 362 

High School, Denver 365 

High School Building, Greeley, Colorado 372 

First Place of Worship 373 

First Hotel 374 

Last Hotel — The " Oasis " 374 

Business Block 376 

Meeker and his Home 379 

Captivity of Mrs. Meeker and Daughter 384 

The Antlers 3S9 

Colorado College ' 390 

State Capitol 393 

City Hall 394 

Palace Hotel 395 

Residence of Charles Crocker 397 

Lick Observatory 398 

Hotel del Monte, Monterey 400 

The Raymond 401 

Hotel, Las Vegas Hot Springs 4°- 

Assembly Hall, Tabernacle, and Temple, Salt Lake 405 

Monument in Memory of Oakes Ames and Oliver Ames 41^) 

IV. MARVELS OF MINING. 

Sutter's Mill 43- 

Oft" for the Mines 433 

Industrial Exposition Building 437 

Prospectors 43^ 

Gold-Digger and Deer 44- 

Mine Locomotive 443 

Finding Gold by Accident 444 

Placer Mining 445 

The Rocker 447 

Gulch Mining 44^ 

Gulch .Mining, Idaho 449 

Flume 450 

Lode Mining 45' 

Underground Railroad 45- 

Veins of Gold 453 

Going into a Mine 454 



xxii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

Sloping 456 

Rock-Boring Winch 458 

Ten-Stamp Quartz Mill 459 

Smelting Works at Argo 461 

Gold and Silver 462 

A Ton of Pure Silver 463 

Tabor Grand 465 

Looking West from Printer Boy Hill 467 

Fryer Hill 47^ 

Sugar Loaf Mountain 473 

Drifting and Shaft-Sinking 477 

Red Mountain 498 

Lake Valley Smelting Works 504 

V. MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 

Buffalo Grasses 539 

Kansas Grasses 540 

Home on a Cattle Ranch 541 

Home on a Cattle Ranch 542 

A Dug-Out 542 

Herd on the Range 544 

Off for the Ranch 545 

Prairie Post-Ofifice . , 546 

Tarantula Nest 547 

Cattle Seeking Water 548 

A Cowboy 561 

Cowboy off for the Range 562 

Death of a Hero 565 

Stopping a Stampede 568 

Group of Cowboys 569 

The "Round-Up" 570 

Starting a Laundry 572 

Picking up a Coin 574 

Grub Wagon for the " Round-Up "' 575 

Preparing for the Night-Herd 577 

A Bucking Horse 579 

Cattle Brand 580 

Roping and Cutting Out 581 

Branding Calves 582 

Chasing a Calf 583 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



PAGE 



Chicago Stockyards 586 

Hauling a Cow from the Alire 590 

A Prairie Fire 592 

Sheep Ranch 595 

Captain Jack 602 

Sheep-Shearing 602 

Bagging Wool for Transportation 603 

Counting Sheep 605 

The Runaway Lamb 606 

A Novel Sheep-Rack 607 

Going to the Ranch 609 

Their Ranch Home 611 

Climbing the Butte 613 

VI. MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 

Sulkey Plough 629 

Corn in the Kaw Valley, Kansas 630 

Millet — Six Weeks' Growth 632 

King of Harrows 634 

Ploughing on a Bonanza Farm 636 

Steam Gang Plough 637 

Harrowing on a Bonanza Farm 638 

Seeding on a Bonanza Farm 639 

Harvesting on a Bonanza Farm 641 

Steam Header 642 

The Steam Thresher 644 

McCormick's New Reaper 643 

Broadcast Sower ^'4^ 

Two-Rowed Corn-Planter 652 

Empire Grain-Drill '*53 

Sunflowers "5" 

Broom Corn ^^^1 

Pioneer Farmer's Home in Montana 6"' 

Pleasant View Farm ""3 

Albino Park Farm ^^5 

Cart-Spreader > 666 

Hay-Tedder ^''7 

Automatic Stacker and Gatherer ""9 

Pioneer Home in Dakota 7° 



A Dakota Wheat Fan 



672 



XXIV LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

California Farm House 683 

Hop Farm 685 

California Vineyard , 689 

Bee Culture 691 

California Orange Grove 693 

Logging near Olympia 701 

Fish Wheel on the Columbia 702 

Irrigating 703 

Headgate . 706 

Irrigating an Orchard „ . 708 

MAPS AND DIAGRAMS. 

The New West as it was 220 

The New W'est as it is 221 

Alignment of the D. & R. G. Railroad over Marshall Pass, Colorado ... 281 

Geographical Centre of the United States 649 

Irrigating in Idaho 680 

Method of Irrigating 704 



AUTHORS CONSULTED. 



United States Geological and (jeografmical Survey of Colorado and 
Adjacent Ti£rritories. By F. V. Hayden. 

United States (iEOLOoiCAL Survey. J. W. Powell, Director. Second Annual 
Report, 1880 and 1881. 

Atlas of Monographs and History of Grand Canon of Colorado. By 
iMajor Dutton. 

United States Geological Explorations. By Clarence King. 

United States Geological Survicy. By Lieutenant Wheeler, of Corps of Engi- 
neers. Vol. III., 1875. 

United States Report ox Dakota. By Lieutenant Warren. 

United States Survey of Idaho, Montana, etc. 

United States Report on Ni:vada and Arizona. 

Exploring Expedition from Sante Fe to Junction of Grand and Green 
Rivers, 1859. By Major Macomb. 

United States Geological and Geographical Sir\i:y of the Rocky Moun- 
tain Region. Contribution to Ethnology. J. W. Powell, Director. Vol. IV., 
1881. 

Mining Statistics West of the Rocky Mountains. By R. H. Raymond, 
United States Commissioner of Mining. 

Eleventh Annual Report of thic United St.ates Geological and Geo- 
graphical Survey of Idaho and Wyoming, 1877. I^}' F- V- Hayden. 

Second Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. By J. W. Powell. 

United States Census for 1880. 

Reports to United States Government on Mineral Resources of the 
United States. By J. Ross Browne. 

Bulletins of the United States Geological and (;eogr.a.phical Survey of 
the Territories. By F. V. Hayden. Vols. I. and II. 

Seventh Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey for 
1873. By F. V. Hayden. 

Tenth Annual Report of the United States Geological Survey for 1876. 
By F. V. Hayden. 



XXVI 



A UTHOJ^S CONSUL TED. 



Expedition to Great Salt Lake of Utah. By H. Stansbury, Captain of 
Topographical Engineers of United States Army. 

Expedition to the Sources of the Mississippi, Arkansas, Kansas, and La 
Platte Rivers. By Major Z. AL Pope. 

Natu'e Races of the Pacific Coast of North A:merica. By Herbert Howe 
Bancroft. 

History of the United States. By George Bancroft. 

Prehistoric America. By the ALirquis de Nadailac. 

Atlantis ; the Antediluvian World. By Ignatius Donelley. 

History of the Northern Pacific Railroad. By E. V. Smalley. 

Reports of the Director of the Mint. Washington, D.C. 

Prehistoric Times as illustrated by Ancient Ruins, etc. By Sir John 
Lubbock. 

Resources of Arizona. By P. Hamilton. 

Tales of the Colorado Pioneers. By Alice Polk Hill. 

The Resources of the Rocky Mountains. By E. J. Farmer. 

The Union Pacific Tourist. By the Company. 

Reports of the State Boards of Agriculture of Kansas, Nebraska, 
Colorado, and California. 

Artesian W^ells on the Great Plains. By Department of Agriculture, Wash- 
ington. 

Number and Value of Farm Animals. By Department of Agriculture, Wash- 
ington. 

Reports of National Convention of Cattlemen for 1884 and 1885. 

Reports of the Chamber of Commerce of Denver and San Francisco. 

The Mining Industry. By Mining Association of Denver. 

California as it is. By San Francisco Call Company. 

Report of the Wyoming Stock-Growers' Association. 

Bits of Travel at Home. By H. H. 

Resources of Colorado. By J. Alden Smith, State Geologist. 

Leadville. By L. A. Kent. 

Reports of the Public Schools of Kansas City, Omaha, Denver, San 
Francisco, etc. 

The Wonderland Route to Pacific Coast. By Northern Pacific Railroad. 

Illustrated New Mexico. By M. G. Ritch. 

Colorado. By Frank Fossett. 

Montana and Yellowstone Park. By Robert E. Strahorn. 

Gunnison, Colorado's Bonanza County. By John K. Hallowell, Geologist. 

History of Oregon and California. By Robert Greenhouse. 

History of Oregon. By Dr. William Barrows. 

History of Kansas. By Professor Spring. 



AUTHORS CONSULTED. xxvii 

Bachelijkk's Resources of Dakota. 

Tlalvs of the (iREAT WEST, liy K. I. Dodge. 

Adventures in the Apache Country. By J. Ross lirowne. 

Mines of Col(jraijo. By O. J. Hollister. 

THHtTY Years" Rkshjenci: with Inihan Trhses. By H. R. Schoolcraft. 

The Tourist's Overland Guide. By George A. Crofutt. 

Grip-Sack Guide of Colorado. By George A. Crofutt. 

The New West. By Charles Loring Brace. 

The Aztecs. From the French of L. Biaut. By J. L. (Earner. 

Ca.mi'S i\ the Rockv Mountains. By William A. liaillie-Grohman. 

C<JLORADO. By Bayard Taylor. 

Heart of the Continent. By Fritz Hugh Ludlow. 

The Yosemite Guide-Book. Professor J. D. Whitney, State Geologist of Cali- 
fornia. 

The Yellowstone National Park. By H. J. Wisner. 

Handbook of the Pacific Coast. By William R. Bentley. 

The Crest of the Continent. By Ernest Ingersoll. 

Wonders of the Yellowstone. By James Richardson. 

A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. By Isabella L. Bird. 

Three Years in Arizona and New Mexico. By S. W. Cozzens. 

Kesources of California. By John S. Hittell. 

New Colorado and the Sante Fe Trail. By A. A. Hayes, Jr. 

Life (jf Kit Carson. By J. S. C. Al^ljott. 

Life of John C. P^remont. By G. W. Upham. 

The Rocky Mountain Saints. By T. B. H. Stenhouse. 

First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Reports of the State Mineral- 
ogist OF California. By Henry G. Hanks. 

El Dorado. By Bayard Taylor. 

HoL.MEs" United States Report on Ancient Races in Southwestern Col- 
orado. 1875 and 1876. 

Jackson's United Statf:s Report on Ancient Races. 1877. 

Mining Camps. By Charles Howard Shinn. 

Comstock's History of the Precious Metals. 

Stewart's Irrigation. 

Hydraulic Mining in California. By A. J. Browne. 

Resources of Montana. By J. S Harris and W. A. Clark, Commissoners. 

Oregon and Washington. By Northern Pacific Railroad Company. 

Spaulding on Public Lands. 

Scribner's Statistical Atlas. 



INTRODUCTION. 



'yHE NEW WEST — where is it? what is it? That portion of 
-1 our great country lying between the Missouri River and the 
Pacific Ocean, embracing the States and Territories of Kansas, 
Nebraska, Dakota, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, Idaho, Ore- 
gon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, and California. 
Of itself a mighty empire ! This New West contains more than half 
the territory of our entire country. The territorial measurement of 
the United States, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, is 3,025,600 
square miles. The States and Territories of the New West embrace 
1,532,142 square miles of it, which is 19,342 square miles more than 
one-half. Its magnitude is a marvel. How few people from Maine 
to Ohio have supposed that more than one-half of the area of their 
country lies between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean ! 
Without stopping to consult the map, or the Bureau of Statistics, 
they have been indulging the thought that "the jumping-off place" 
was not far west of the Mississippi. Reliable information concern- 
ing the New West is of so recent date that the mass of the people 
in the East are not posted as to the actual facts. " Facts are stranger 
than fiction " is a sentiment especially applicable to this unsettled, 
but rapidly settling part of our land. Were some well-posted 
citizen of the New West to present the actual facts about that 
domain to the inhabitants of the Eastern States, a multitude of 
hearers would denounce him as a liar, or pity him for possessing 
more imagination than judgment. It is because so much of the 
truly marvellous is interwoven with the history and present status 
of that Eldorado. 



XXX MARVELS OF THE AEJl' I! 'EST. 

To recur again to territorial limits. The country east of the 
Mississippi is divided into States so small, comparatively, that their 
inhabitants are not prepared to appreciate the magnitude of the States 
and Territories west of the "Father of waters." They are so accus- 
tomed to States containing from two thousand to fifty thousand square 
miles, that they are quite unprepared to comprehend the more distant 
ones, three and four times as large. Kansas is almost ten times larger 
than Massachusetts, nearly seventeen times larger than Connecticut, 
sixty-five times larger than Rhode Island ; and its area more than 
equals the combined area of all the New England States, with Mary- 
land and Delaware added. Colorado is twelve times larger than 
Massachusetts, and twenty-six times larger than Connecticut. One 
hundred Rhode Islands can be set down upon its 104,500 square 
miles. One of its counties (Gunnison) is larger than Massachusetts 
and Rhode Island combined. It has four magnificent parks, situated 
in the mountains, from seven thousand to nine thousand feet above 
the sea, the smaller of which is equal to two Rhode Islands ; and 
the State of Massachusetts could be set within the larger. These 
four parks contain as many acres as Massachusetts, Connecticut, 
and Rhode Island together. Arizona, New Mexico, Montana, 
Nevada, Dakota, and California are larger than Colorado. California 
is twenty-two times larger than Massachusetts, nearly three times 
as large as all the New England States, and its area exceeds the 
united area of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Mary- 
land. Eighteen Massachusetts can be put into Dakota, with ample 
room left to receive the little State of Rhode Island. Montana is 
almost as large as Dakota, and can spread seventeen Massachusetts 
and one Rhode Island over its ample surface. New Mexico, Arizona, 
and Nevada are not much behind their gigantic neighbors ; for their 
united territory is equal to one-tenth of our entire national domain, 
and more than equal to the combined area of New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, New Jersey, Maryland, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and South 
Carolina, together with all the New England States. 

These are marvellous boundaries ; and they represent the grand 
scale upon which our New Western country is laid out, as well as the 



INTRODUCTION. xxxi 

magnitude of its social, commercial, and educational enterprises. 
Nothing is done there in a small way. Human plans are as large as 
the States. Nothing is too large or too difficult to be undertaken. 
Enterprises are prodigious. The amount of business is almost in- 
credible. Enormous contracts, enormous profits, enormous losses, 
are the order of the day. " Do you pretend to say that nothing is 
impossible in the work of constructing railways .' " inquired a lawyer 
in a Colorado court of a witness who was a railroad official. " I 
pretend to say," replied the witnes.s, "that, give us a .starting-point, 
and the objective point to be reached, with a railroad company having 
a plenty of money behind, we will reach it." It is on such a magnificent 
scale that things are done in the New West. Nothing narrow or 
picayune, but broad and large! " (Jur railroad company wants to 
borrow fifty millions,'' said a railway official in our hearing. P^iftv 
MiLLioN.s ! That fairly represents the magnitude of Western work. 
Men make money by the million, and sometimes they lose it by the 
million, though not often. They aspire to the largest business, the 
greatest trium[)hs of human effort, and the quickest possible results. 
Hence, the handsomest and richest city, the best school system, the 
finest public buildings, and the most wonderful growth are found on 
what was but recently " The Great American Desert." Given 
enterprise on a grand scale, and even the " desert will blossom as 
the rose ! " 

Marvels are constantly multiplying in the New West. Surprises 
are as common there as commonplace is in the East. The rapid in- 
crease of its population is as great a marvel as a cafion, or a railroad 
over Marshall Pass. The time is coming when the population west 
of the Missouri River will exceed the population east of it. Kansas 
can accomm(Klate thirty millions of people without being crowded 
more than Massachusetts will be fifty years from now. Colorado can 
support more than Kansas ; and so can Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, and 
Oregon. Arizona, Nevada, and New Mexico have room for forty 
millions each. Dakota and Montana can maintain sixty millions 
each, and California exceed both of them in the number of its in- 
habitants. Nebraska and Washington Territory will fall little behind 



xxxii MARVELS OF THE JVEW WEST. 

Kansas in capacity for population. It is not without authority, then,, 
that some statisticians claim that the United States can support in 
the future, when her wonderful resources have had time to develop, 
a population of 3,600,000,000 — more than twice the number of 
people now dwelling on the face of the earth ! The New West, with 
its larger territory, its inexhaustible mines of gold, silver, copper,, 
lead, iron, and coal, its richer lands, more genial and healthier climate,, 
its grander scenery and irrepressible spirit of enterprise, must com- 
mand its full share of these teeming millions. Its influence must 
become potent to determine, if not to control, the destiny of our 
great Republic. As will be its domestic, social, intellectual, moral, 
and Christian character, so will be the power and perpetuity of our 
national government. The nation will rise or fall with the New 
West. The latter's increasing wealth and enterprise must exert a 
controlling influence upon our political history. The minds that 
manatge and drive there, must prove more or less potential at the 
seat of government. Mind is master everywhere : and mind that is 
the life and soul of Western enterprise, thrift, and greatness, must 
become masterful in the councils of the nation. Time only is neces- 
sary to settle the matter ; and time is always an element of success 
or failure. 

Large numbers of Eastern people suppose that even now the " Far 
West," as they call the New West, is a rude, rough, half-civilized 
frontier, where men who escape the Indian scalping-knife may fall by 
the shot of the desperado. They are not prepared for the statement 
that the average society of the New West will compare favorably 
with that of New England, and that the most dangerous elements of 
humanity in Western cities, and even in mining towns, is not so bad 
as the lowest vicious classes of New York and other Eastern cities. 
But it is even so. That the present population between Missouri 
River and the Pacific Ocean will compare favorably with that of 
Eastern States in virtue and intelligence, is a marvel ; and the cause 
is to be found in luistern influences. New England is found through- 
out the New West ; it is everywhere. Go where he will, the traveller 
is continually reminded of New England institutions and society. 



INTRO 1) L/C 77 ON. x\x\\\ 

New England laid the foundations there ; and New England is rear- 
ing the walls and getting them re;^dy for the cap-stone. State capi- 
tols, court-houses, hotels, city halls, opera houses,\ universities, school 
buildings, and houses of worship are like those of Massachusetts, 
only better. The children's love and memory of home reproduce the 
institutions of their childhood, made more conspicuous by modern 
improvements. So the New West becomes the rival of the East. 

We have used the phrase " I'\ar West," but really there is no such 
locality now. We travelled ten thousand miles in "the Rocky Moun- 
tain region," but failed to find the " T^ar West." We scarcely escaped 
from the East. "Are you from the P2ast V inquired a stranger of us 
in Colorado. "Yes, just arrived," we answered. "And so am I 
from the East," responded my questioner. "May I ask you what 
part of the East you came from .^ " we continued. "From Iowa," he 
said. So I found that "far west " is east out there. 

Over the range on the Pacific Slope, at Cjunnison City, a gentleman 
accosted us in a familiar, genial way, — 

" Stranger, are you from the East 1 " 

"Yes, sir; and I expect to return there soon." 

" I hope you will carry a good report of us back, for I come from 
the East," he added pleasantly. 

" ]\Iost certainly I shall, for I am really smitten with this new 
country," we answered. "And what part of the East are you from .^ " 

"Kansas," he replied, to our surprise. "I came here for my health 
three years ago. I am not yet well, though much improved ; and I 
may yet find it necessary to go west." 

We gave it up — there is no West really ; the country has become 
mostly East. The East dogged our stejis everywhere ; and the West, 
like some z'^/i/s fatuiis of the meadow, receded from our view as we 
journeyed on. The waggish Coloradean was less a wag than he 
supposed, when he said, "The West ! the West ! W1iy, the West is 
kicked 'over the range' into the Pacific Ocean." Whether true or 
not, we saw no one who admitted that he had reached the West. At 
the most distant point we struck, men were going West. We can 
say with another tourist, that the further we went, the more we were 



xxxiv MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

strengthened in the belief that the wise men did come from the East. 
Whether the East is Westernized, or the West Easternized, is a 
question the reader must settle in his own mind. 

In travelling over the New West we found ample proof of the 
incorrect ideas concerning it prevailing in the East. When news of 
the massacre of Mr. Meeker and his co-workers, by the Ute Indians, 
reached the Eastern States, large numbers of terrified fathers and 
mothers, wives and sisters, and other friends, wrote to their kindred 
to hasten home. They seemed to think that the country beyond 
the Missouri River was a narrow belt over which a single tribe of 
Indians in arms could sweep in bloody triumph. They did not know 
but that the massacre occurred at the very door of their relatives' 
habitations. The friends might have been living in Montana or 
Nebraska, or California ; they did not know that it was not all the 
same as Colorado, where the butchery occurred. An Eastern man 
sickened and died in Denver, and the tidings of his decease were 
transmitted to his family friends, the most afflicted of whom immedi- 
ately wrote to inquire whether there were neighbors to render him 
necessary aid. The intelligence was returned, " he had about forty 
thousand neighbors," which was the population of Denver at that 
time. Friends had no idea that he was dwelling in one of the most 
marvellous cities on the continent. They appeared to think that, 
dwell where he might, he must be isolated, and destitute of tho^e 
comforts which a dying man ought to command. Ten years ago a 
young man from New England was travelling horseback in the New 
West for his health. Tramps were in their glory and strength in 
the East, at that time ; so that, when his letter came describing his 
journeying alone from place to place, his parents, though intelligent 
people, were very much alarmed ; and they spoiled a whole sheet of 
paper in communicating to him their fears, closing their well-meant 
counsel by emphasizing, "Beware of Tramps!" They were not a 
little surprised to receive an answer, in due time, " No Tramps 
Here ! " As tramps were then the principal scare in New England, 
they supposed that they must be a greater scare in the " Far West." 
Four years after the rush to Leadville, a Connecticut gold-seeker 



introduction: xxxv 

cast his fortunes with that crowd. His parents forwarded to him by 
mail various mailable articles, which they supposed could not be 
purchased in that distant mining camp. They were very much 
surprised, however, to receive the following answer to their inquiry, 
"Can you buy rubber boots there?" "Yes, pianos if I want." 
Pianos in a mining camp, more than two thousand miles away, was 
the last thing they had dreamed of ; and they very wisely concluded 
that their knowledge of the Western country was somewhat limited. 

Now, this book is designed to enlighten those who have never 
visited the New West. To make it "next to seeing," a large 
number of pictorial illustrations are introduced, without which it is 
quite impossible for this class to appreciate its marvels. No ])erson 
can understand a canon by merely looking at a stereopticon \-iew, 
unless he has seen a canon with his own eyes. Eut transfer that 
view to a book, by the engraver's art, accompanied by a careful 
description, and the reader can readily take it in. That is "next 
to seeing." Therefore, the numerous illustrations in this volume 
occupy a prominent place in its plan. Indeed, in one sense, we may 
truly say that more dependence is placed upon the pictorial illustra- 
tions than the te.xt, to convey the information intended. The}- are 
not designed merely for entertainment, but also for instruction. 
Through the objects illustrated, the character, thrift, and aims of 
the people appear. Public buildings exhibit the public enterjjrise 
of town or city. Good schoolhouses indicate general intelligence, 
and the value put upon education by the citizens. Houses of worshij) 
are the expression of the noblest and best sentiments of the heart. 
P^or this reason, we claim a special mission for the many illustrations 
in this volume. They are furnished at heavy expense ; but are 
indispensable to the author's purpose. It would be quite impossible 
to learn what the New West is without them. 

This book does not contain all the marvels of the New West, by 
any means. It does not contain all of even the marvellous mar\-els. 
An octavo volume is quite too limited to admit the record of all such 
objects, which abound in the Rocky Mountain district. Not all even 
of the marvels selected especially for this volume are found herein ; 



xxxvi MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

for our space was filled before the list was exhausted. We furnish 
marvels enough, howe\-er, to satisfy the most incredulous that the 
New West has been very properly called "Wonderland." 

One feature of this volume is the introduction of the opinions of 
other men — men of science, explorers, travellers, pleasure-seekers, 
and sight-seers generally. To risk our own opinion alone, based upon 
our personal observation and research, was altogether too hazardous. 
The danger of being stigmatized as the most unscrupulous falsifier 
of the age or land, was too much for our flesh and blood to face. 
So we have introduced a large number of descriptions of marvels by 
other authors, that readers may understand we neither exaggerate 
nor lie. At least, dear reader, you will find us in excellent compan}-, 
and quite enough of it, too, whether you are inclined to doubt our 
veracity or not. We are willing to rest our reputation for truthful- 
ness and honor here, after the foregoing explanation. 

Marvels ! That idea is adhered to throughout the work. Marvels 
of ancient races ; marvels of scenery ; marvels of railroading over 
the highest mountains ; marvels of growth ; marvels of agriculture ; 
marvels of mining ; marvels of stock-raising ; and other marvels we 
need not enumerate here. Nothing but marvels occupy these pages. 
The mt)st remarkable things of the New West, and not the common- 
place — these are what we lay before the reader, for these express 
the possibilities of the New West as the commonplace cannot. 
Such as they are, we commend them to the study of young and old, 
and commit our humble venture to the considerate judgment of the 

public. 

THE AUTHOR. 

Franklin, Mass., 1887. 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



1. MARVELS OF NATURE. 



NATURE has wonderfully diversified our whole country; but her 
greatest marvels are found between the Missouri River and 
the Pacific coast. " I have travelled through Switzerland and Italy, 
and seen the beauty and grandeur of Alpine scenery," said a member 
of the British Parliament to the author, in Colorado ; " but I have 
seen nothing that surpasses the scenery of the Rocky Mountain 
region." Such is the almost universal testimony of tourists. Not a 
few tourists claim that the scenery of the New West as a whole 
surpasses anything to be seen in Europe ; and they have one fact 
to support their claim ; viz., the Rio Grande Railroad Company 
forwarded many photographic views of Rocky Mountain scenery to 
the International Exposition, at Amsterdam, Plolland, in 1883, and 
received the premium therefor, notwithstanding that Switzerland was 
a contestant for the honor. The Colorado commissioner at Amster- 
dam, in conveying the award to the Railway Company, said : " The 
committee specially appointed to report upon the several exhibits of 
railroad scenery, which included a great number from Switzerland 
and those of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway, have awarded to 
the latter railway the highest premium. This will allow the Rio 
Grande to lay claim to passing through the finest scenic country 
in the world, not excepting Switzerland, which heretofore stood 
unequalled. The views are pro\ing one of the centres of attraction 
to the thousands who attend their exhibit daily." 

Bayard Taylor says : " The view of the Rocky Mountains from the 
Divide near Kiowa Creek is considered one of the finest in Colorado. 
From the breezy ridge, between scattered groups of pine, you look 
upon one hundred and fifty miles of the snowy range, from the 
Sangre de Cristo to the spurs away towards Earamie. In variety 
and harmony of form, in effect against the dark blue sky. in breadth 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



and grandeur, I know no external picture of the Alps which can be 
placed beside it. If you could take away the valley of the Rhone, 
and unite the Alps of Savoy with the Bernese Overland, you might 
obtain a tolerable idea of this view of the Rocky Mountains. Pike's 
Peak would then represent the Jungfrau ; a nameless snowy giant 
in front of you, Monte Rosa ; and Long's Peak, Mont Blanc. The 
altitudes very nearly correspond, and there is a certain similarity in 

the forms. The 
average height of 
the Rocky Moun- 
tains, however, 
surpasses that of 
the Alps." 

An English 
author, Wm. A. 
Baillie-Grohman, 
familiar with the 
Alpine scenery, 
says, in his 
"Camps in the 
Rockies," "Many 
of the Colorado 
mountains are 
called the Mat- 
terhorns of Amer- 
ica — with about 
as much justifi- 
cation as the 
more diminutive 
Ben Nevis, or 
Snowdon, merits 
that name. With 
the Tetons, how- 
ever, it is differ- 
ent ; for it makes, so far as I know, the only and very brilliant excep- 
tion to the usual dome-like formation of the Rockies. In shape it is 
very like the Swiss master-peak ; but inasmuch as the Western rival 
rises in one majestic sweep of one thousand feet from the natural 
park, to an altitude all but the same (13,800 feet), I would, in this 
instance, in point of sublimity give the palm to the New World." 




On the Line of D. & R, G. Railway. 

GRAND CANON OF THE ARKANSAS 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



CANONS. 

A canon is a mighty gorge cut in the mountains hy an irresistil)le 
torrent on its way to the sea. These wonderful chasms are numer- 
ous in the Rocky Mountains, some of them ahnost too grand to achnit 
of description. - 
Among the more ' ' 
widely known is 
"The Grand Caiion 
of the Arkansas," 
its name being de- 
rived from the Ar- 
kansas River, which 
rushes through it. 
The foregoing illus- 
tration furnishes a 
view of it at the 
entrance where the 
railroad enters. 

This caiion is ten 
miles in length, the 
Royal Gorge, which 
is the narrowest and 
deepest point, ex- 
tending but a frac- 
tional part of tlic 
distance. It is thirtv 
feet wide at the 
gorge, with the walls 
rising perpendicu- 
larly on either side 
two thousand feet 
skyward, here and 
there a pinnacle 
shooting several 
hundred feet higher. 
The scene is weird, 
solemn, and awful, 

totally unlike anything which we ever dreamed of. Merriment is 
out of place there ; no observer is inclined to joke as he looks 
up at the mountain crevice in which he seems confined. The rocky 







. of D & R. G^ Railway. 

THE ROYAL GORGE. 



6 .]f.lKrJ-:LS OF THE NEW WIST. 

sides two thousand feet hit;h ! Set six l^unker Hill IMonuments 
one uj^on another, ant! the ilistanee is barely covered ! 

Sexeral i;entlemen \-ie\ved the Royal Gorg-e from the summit 
before any one dreamed of running;- a railwa)' throu>;h it. One of 
the number — ^a clergyman — -said to the writer: "We knew that it 
was an awful place, for friends had been there before us, and rolled 
large stones over the precipice, to listen to their reverberating sound 
as they descendctl. down, down, tlown, their noise dying awa}' in the 
distance. We had a strong desire to look down into the awful gorge 
from the top, so we crawled on our hands and feet to the dizzy edge, 
not daring to trust ourselves in an upright position, and cast one 
swift glance down into the terrible chasm ; and that was enough. 
The transient view was a shock to our nerves. We crawled back as 
quickly as possible to a place oi safety, and from that tlay to this, I 
ne\er had the least desire to repeat the act. Though seven years 
have elapsed, as often as memory recalls the scene, I feel a weakness 
and shudder running through my body." 

The " Black Canon " is a darker and more dismal gorge, lying west 
of Gunnison City. Its name is derived from the dark, sombre appear- 
ance of the walls, although in some places they are composed of red 
sandstone. But a profusion of cedars and pines grow near the sum- 
mits and out of crevices which the elements have matle down the 
sides ; autl these cast a gloom over the place, creating a sensation of 
loneliness in the hearts of many observers. There is great variety 
of scenery in this canon, autl one never tires of looking". Here and 
there small ri\ulets are seen issuing from the craggy sides, two 
thousand feet up and more, while occasionally a beautiful cascade 
leaps over its rocky bed to break in pieces on the rocks below ; and, 
in one instance, a cataract leaps clear of every rock and plunges 
down the whole distance to the railway track. This canon is thirty 
miles long, — three times the length of the Grand Canon of the 
Arkansas. 

The waterfall at the right is known as Chipeta V:\\\'&, and here the 
sides of the canon rise from fifteen hundred to two thousaml feet. 
From tlie railway the view is impressive. The canon is unlike that 
of Arkansas in its general appearance, and yet like it in depth and 
some other characteristics. The contrast between the two is suffi- 
cient to create a lively interest in both, enough to dispel that false 
idea of the tourists, " when you have seen one canon, you have seen 
all." Like "the human face divine," no two of them are alike, and 
hence each one must be studied by itself. We have entered them 



MARVELS (J J- NATUh'/-:. 

at the bottom, middle, and top, and it is quite impossible to siv at 
which prmn then- is most to enjoy. At either altitude the imprest 




ilway 



THE BLACK CANON. 



sion can be described only by a series of exclamation ])oints. " Web- 
ster's Great Unabridged" is mute on almost any canon, ami at almost 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



any point thereon. "Comparisons become odious " as never before; 
so that even the aspiring letter-writer feels somewhat insignificant 




^m 



i^ 



'•^ 

-'f:. 



,^- 



..ii&k 






On the Line of D. & R. G, Railway, 

CURRICAUTI'S NEEDLE. 

in his vain attempt at accurate description, and is inclined to say, 
" Lord, what is man that thou art mindful of him ?" 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



Among the most remarkable objects in tliis canon is " Curricauti's 
Needle," which towers above all other pinnacles. It stands as a 
sentinel to guard the everlasting solitude at its base. It is of a red- 
dish color from top to bottom, and rises very abruptly into the air. 
A "Cleopatra Obelisk" does not possess more grace or symmetry 
than this natural wonder. Here and there a tree or shrub thrives 

in the crevices ,___„^„. 

of its rocky "\ 

sides. The cut 
is a fine and cor- 
rect representa- 
t i o n of the 
mar\el. 

The author 
of "The Crest 
of the Conti- 
nent " says of 
this marvel: " In 
the very centre 
of the c a 11 o n , 
where its bul- 
warks are most 
lofty and pre- 
cipitous, unbro- 
ken cliffs rising 
two thousanc 
feet without a 
break, and shac 
owed by ovc i 
hanging corni 
ces — just here 
stands the most 
striking buttress I 
and pinnacle of 
them all, — 

CuKKic.vuTi's Needle. It is a conical tower standing out somewhat 
beyond the line of the wall, from which it is separated (so that from 
some points of view it looks wholly isolate) on one side by a deep gash, 
and on the other by one of those narrow side-canons which in the 
western part of the gorge occur every mile or two. These ravmes 
are filled with trees, and make a green setting for this massive 




MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



monolith of pink stone, whose diminishing apex ends in a leaning 
spire that seems to trace its march upon the sweeping clouds." 

As our limits will not allow of an illustration or description of the 
Price River Canon, lying beyond on the route to Salt Lake City, we 
will call attention to its marvellous gateway, called " Castle Gate," 
through which river, railway, and trail pass. 

It strikingly resembles the "Gateway to the Garden of the Gods." 
"The two huge pillars or ledges of rock composing it, are offshoots 
of the cliffs behind. They are of different heights, one measuring 
five hundred, and the other four hundred and fifty feet, from top to 
base. They are richly dyed with red, and the firs and pines growing 

about them, but reaching only to 
their lower strata, render this color 
more noticeable and beautiful. Be- 
tween the two sharp promontories, 
which are separated only by a nar- 
row space, the river and the railway 
both run, one pressing closely 
against the other. The stream 
leaps over a rocky bed, and its 
banks are lined with tangled brush. 
Once past the gate, and looking 
back, the bold headlands forming 
it have a new and more attractive 
beauty. They are higher and more 
massive, it seems, than when we 
were in their shadow. Church- 
like caps hang far over the perpen- 
dicular faces. No other pinnacles 
approach them in size and majesty. 
They are landmarks up and down 
the canon, their lofty tops catching the eye before their bases are 
discovered. It was down Price River Canon, and past Castle Gate, 
that General Sydney Johnson marched his army home from Utah." 

Twenty miles from Denver is the entrance to Platte Canon, 
which is scarcely inferior to the Arkansas Canon in the variety and 
grandeur of its scenery. 

The walls at the entrance are several hundred feet high, increas- 
ing in altitude as the mountain is penetrated. Peak on peak greet 
the eye, shooting up higher and higher, as the train begins to 
climb the sides of the mountains. The tourist has heard that the 




RIFT IN THE ROCKS. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. I, 

Rocky Mountains are distinguished for the number of peaks and 
now he has ocular demonstration of it. With a single sweep of his 
vision he can count thirty, forty, and even sixty peaks, piled one above 
another, clear back to the sky. 

Personal observation alone can enable one to realize the crooked 
ness of the canon. It is necessarily crooked beyond all ordinary con- 
ception of crookedness ; so that crookedness becomes one of the -rand 
novelties to enjoy. We venture to affirm that the traditionary^'stick 
that was so crooked it couldn't lie still, was not so crooked as this 
canon. 

The eye is frequently delighted by such scenes as the cut on the 
previous page illustrates, the monumental stones or spires often num- 
bering a half-dozen in the cluster. 

A writer who is perfectly familiar with this canon says : " For full 
fifty miles there is a succession of complex curves, and beetlino- 
heights coming almost together above and crowding the track from 
one side to the other. Nature has shaped the rocks so oddly that 
giants seemingly stand guard by their castles perched dizzily above 
but scorning to molest the rabble going uninvited through their 
possessions. It is a fascinating sight to watch the engine, which 
writhes along as though its gleaming fire were an inward life, its 
puffs a pulse, and the sparks flying crimson against the walls, drops 
of agony. At times the cliff is directly ahead. Unwittingly you 
brace for the shock to come when the cars shall be dashed to i)ieces 
against its flinty face. But with a quick turn to the right or left, the 
passage by is made in safety. The train hun-ies by picturesque 
hamlets, among which Estabrook Park is perhaps the most delightful, 
and up Kenosha Hill by a miracle of engineering, and from the toj) 
you behold such a panorama as was never seen before from the 
windows of a railway coach." 

Boulder Canon, in which Dome Rock is found, is sixteen miles 
in length, wild and grand. A tourist (H. H.) says : "To .see Boulder 
Canon aright, one must enter it from the Nederlands Meadows, 
at its upper mouth; and to reach the Nederlands Meadows from 
Denver, one must go by rail to the Clear Creek Canon, and dri\-e 
across from Central City to Nederlands. The road lies through tracts 
of pines and over great ridges, grand in their loneliness. From 
every ridge is a new view of the ' Snowy Range ' to the west and 
north. In strong sunlight and shadow, these myriads of snow peaks, 
relieved against the blue sky, are of such brilliant and changing 
colors that it must be a very dull soul indeed that could look on 



12 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



-jf^l 




•^S t*i--^*' 



them without thinking of many-colored jewels. On the day that I 
saw this view, James' Peak was covered with snow, and stood in full 
light. Its sharp, pyramidal lines looked as fine cut and hard as if 
the mountains had but just been hewn from alabaster." 

Clear Creek Canon deserves mention with the remarkable 

caflons already 
named. Mr, 
F o s s e 1 1 says :: 
" The most en- 
tertaining trip 
that can be 
made, and the 
quickest and 
cheapest, is that 
by way of the 
Colorado Cen- 
tral Railway 
from Denver to 
the mining cit- 
ies of Central, 
Black Hawk, 
Idaho, and 
Georgetown. la 
this, the tourist 
gets the great- 
est variety for 
the least expen- 
diture of money 
that any single 
excursion af- 
fords which act- 
ually enters the 
mountains any 
distance. While 
Clear Creek 
(_\'inon [through 
which the afore- 
said cities are 
reached] may not compare with the Royal Gorge in massive gran- 
deur, the tourist can derive unalloyed pleasure from the many and 
varied sights that continually offer themselves en route and at adja- 
cent points on either hand." 




DOME ROCK. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 

This canon is twenty miles fn.ni Denver, and was the first e^-e^ 
penetrated by a railway. At the entrance, the walls rise about one 
thousand feet, so near together that a child can throw a stone fn 
one side to the ot er. It is exceedingly tortuous, jagged, and gr 
The rocky wal s often r.se to two thousand feet, and even to tvte ' 
five hundred feet, n. sublime proportions, and nature has carvJd 
them mto many fantastic forms. Henry James, Esc, savs ■ " At 
tniies the canon widens, but again it comes together like'two mighty 
jaws. Some marvellous turns arc made, until in confusion you won- 
der which way you are going, and if such a series of doubl ng back 
wdl no ultimately lead to the starting-point." He continues . « For 
the miles of amazing, overpowering height of cliffs, and their near 
approach to or absolute verticality ; for majestic, awe-inspiring <a-a'n- 
deur of projecting masses along the mighty walls, and the domes of 
bare gray or brown granite that tower above, combined with the 
peaceful, indeed exquisite, beauty of the floor of its upper valkT so 
many thousand 
feet below the 
surrounding 
silvery sum- 
mits, as well 
as for the ma- 
jesty of the 
forests of pin^ 
and spruci 
that clothe th( 
mountains as 
far as the e}i 
can reach ; and 
for the absorl> 
ing interest oj 
vast gold ami 
silver mining 
enterprises lin- 
ing it for miles 
at a stretch, and 
session of delicioi 
waters,— for all these thnv^s 

rL>n,- (^ 1 "■ '^^^ DOUBLE HFAn 

<-lear Creek stands une- 
qualled by any canon penetrated by a railway on the whole earth. 
An hour's ride from Denver, over the Colorado Division of the 




14 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



Union Pacific, takes the tourist fairly into it, and for forty miles 
he is afforded a spectacle of surpassing splendor." 

The Double Head is a hanging rock as well as a double head, lo- 
cated in a very picturesque part of the canon. Double-faced humans 
are more common in flesh than they are in stone, because they are 
more easily wrought in soft material, we suppose. Hence, they are 
more remarkable in stone. Let the reader study the illustration 
thoughtfully, and his wonder over such natural phenomena will 
increase. 




THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS. 

That the above bit of sculpture was well named by miner or tour- 
ist, the reader must admit. The features of the "old man" stand 
out in bold relief, even to the left ear. There have been other " old 
man of the mountains" in different parts of our country, —one of 
them in New England, — but none of them can compare with this in 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 1 5 

striking resemblance. The venerable patriarch can add to his nov- 
elty by laying claim to the fact that he was settled here before 
Columbus landed on these shores. 



\ 




It is through Clear Creek Canon that Georgetown is reached, from 
which place parties easily ascend to the summit of Gray's Peak, which 
is two hundred feet higher than Pike's Peak. Gray's is 14,341 f^'^'t 
above the level of the sea — the highest mountain peak in the United 
States except Blanca. Here is the " dome of the continent," as all 
who ascend to the top of Gray's Peak fully realize, when, in a clear 



1 6 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

day, they take in the magnificent view of two hundred miles and 
more in every direction. 

Henry James, Esq., describes the view from Gray's Peak most 
graphically. "A wavering line," he says, "stretches back to the 
valley, and the tourist wonders vaguely if he has just come over it. 
The horse is panting as he takes the last turn, and his shoes click 
upon the granite jewels of the continental crown. Gray's Peak is 
beneath you. The sea is 14,411 feet below your level. Hats off! 
The genius of this sublime solitude demands homage. They who 
have traversed the globe say that it affords but one such prospect. 
A pictured landscape so mighty in conception that it overpowers, yet 
harmonious as an anthem in all its infinite diffusion of color and 
form ; framed only by the limit of the eye's vision ; a picture where 
the lakes gleam and the rivers flow, the trees nod, and the cloud ships 
clash in misty collision with the peaks which have invaded their realm, 
while the moving sun floods it with real life and warmth. How like 
an atom the beholder feels ! Northward, southward, westward, ramify 
the spurs of the range, till remoteness swallows them up. Pike's Peak 
is a neighbor. Lincoln's and Long's seem near. The sharpness of 
the Spanish peaks — Terra's Twins — near New Mexico, is distinct, 
while the Uintah Mountains rise up faintly in the distance of Utah. 
Here and there are depressions where parks and valleys are. Every 
park in the State can be located. You may trace the course of rivers 
and the site of lakes. You can see the little cities in sheltering nooks, 
and pathways from them up the mountain side. You detect the glint 
of the Holy Cross. You perceive the South Park Railway worming 
along the valley of the Blue. You overlook Decatur and Dillon and 
Chihuahua. You note the hovering dusk which broods above Lead- 
ville. Eastward are the plains — a waterless ocean — each town a 
fleet, each house a sail, each grove an island. Denver is seen, like 
the mythical city of the mirage." 

Close observation of the cut will show Mr. James to the reader, on 
his way to the summit. 

The writer whose description of the view from Gray's Peak we 
quoted referred to the "Mount of the Holy Cross." It is not a 
fancy i)icturc — it is a real mountain, rightly named, situated in the 
vicinity of Leadville and Red Cliff. " The sacred symbol which 
gives the name to the ' Mount of the Holy Cross ' is derived from 
two great and deep depressions, one vertical, and one horizontal, 
which cross each other nearly at right angles on the bare eastern 
slope of the mountain, which in winter become filled with great 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



17 



masses of snow. During the summer the snows around these 
depressions are melted away, leaving the rest naked, and the snuw}- 





emblem of human 
faith and hope stands 
gleaming in white 
splendor against the 
azure sky, as if Na- 
ture were thus conse- 
crating the mountains to her God, and reflects 
the sun's glories above it." 

Williams' Canon is entered from Mani- 
tou, Colorado. It is a narrow gorge, so nar- 
row that, in one place, scarcely a single inch j 
of space separates the carriage from the 
walls on either side. The tortuous road winds itself thr 
as grand as it is versatile. Tall cliffs and monumental 



ough 
piles 



scenery 
of rock 



i8 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




WILLIAMS CAN(. N 



rise, one upon another, in wonderful profusion, "worn by some fierce 
torrents of long a-o, until now they show on their steep facades 
the deep scars which whirlin-; rocks have formed." 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



'9 



"Raixi'.ow Falls" is a very beautiful cascade 
most romantic parts of Williams* Canon, 
the fact that, at a certain time of day, 
when the sun reaches a .<;iven meridian, 
a perfect rainbow aj^pears on tlie sheet 
of falling water. 

Two miles up the canon is the " Cave 
of the Winds " (p. 21), a remarkable sub- 
terranean cavern in which a hundred 
chambers have been exjjlored, some of 
tliem very high and long. In these chrini- 
bers are countless stalactites and stal; 
mites, which glisten in the light ui 
torches which explorers carry, ])resenting 
a dazzling and fairy-like appearance. 

Cave of the Winds is a great curn. 
ity to all tourists, and they put them- 
selves to great inconvenience in order 
to see it. It is wild in itself, and every- 
thing around it is wild also. A part)' 
on their way thither were overtaken by 
a tempest in the mountains, and one 
of the number rlcquaints us with the 
scene as follows : — 

" Once, in a ramble to the Cave of the Winds, we were weather- 
bound for an hour in a lime-burner's hut by the side of the trail, 
while a furious hail-storm rolled through the canon, and five minutes 
after the majestic columns in the Temple of Isis, a thousand feet 
above our heads, were blazing and glcnving as if under some reflected 
sliower of sunshine. The flying clouds lifted here and there from 
peaks and battlements ; the inspired air tingled in every vein ; the 
heavenly glow and radiance flashed into our souls; and ten minutes 
after we were in the midst of another swift storm of hail, or snow, 
or rain, as if sunshine never belonged to the world. ... It was not 
unusual, through these days, to have four alternate storms in the 
course of a single hour, with clear skies between ; but owing to the 
brilliant rarity of the air, we were never sure it was raining uncil we 
felt or actually saw it. And this when it was pouring a ton to the 
sc[uare inch." 

" How the giant element 
From rock to rock, leaps with delirious bound!" 




' D & R G Railway 
.BOW FALLS. 



20 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



A very remarkable locality in Clear Creek Caiion, near George- 
town, has been named "Devil's Gate." It is spanned by a railroad 
bridge at a dizzy height, from which tourists enjoy a very enchanting 




On th. Li-t r\\\ p R 



DLvlLb GATu. 



view. The strange wildness of the scenery, a mixture of jagged- 
ness, confusion, and desolation, suggest badness, and hence the bad 
name. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



Castle Rock is a huge formation, so much hke an old feudal castle 
as to suggest its present name. An arch underneath, like an ample 
doorway, renders it a more curious and notable object. Water, no 
doubt, that powerful agent of nature, imprisoned within, found this the 
most feasible way of getting out, and hence the arch. Mythology 
would not be troubled to find here an abode of tlie gods, whose 
presence once converted cave, dell, rock, ravine, and mountain peak 
and gorge into strange thrilling history. 

Another curiosity in this caiion is the "Pillar of Jupiter," — so 

named b)- tourists, 
— a mammoth rock, 
or ledge, worn by 
the elements into 
its present impos- 
ing appearance. 

The ])edestal on 
which nature has 
erected this statue 
is so distinct that 
the statue itself 
becomes more strik- 
ing. It is a curious 
oroduction, or freak 
)f nature, as some 
would call it, con- 
iiibuting another 
object oi interest 
to the great variety 
which ever}- where 
kcej^s the vision 
lively. 

1) r . T a }' 1 o r 
writes of Pike's 
l\>ak, as seen from Denver, as follows: "To the .southwest. Pike's 
Peak, the mighty milestone and monument to thousands of the 
old miners, stands erect and flat-footed upon the world. It is 
seventy-five miles to its base, but the view is as clean-cut as a 
cameo. Should I tell anybody it is 13,985 feet high, it would 
be no very satisfactory information ; should I say, you must chmb 
about twelve miles to reach the summit, it would be better; but 
suppose the reader swings a little water over a fire on the sea- 




22 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




CASTLE ROCK. 

ter than the tea strong 
our grandmothers clinked 
after a big washing. 
How often lofty people 
forget that ebullition 
does not always mean 
earnestness and fervor. 
Boiling water is not 
necessarily hot water." 

" Ute Pass " is the 
world-renowned wagon 
trail from Manitou to 
Leadville, a narrow de- 
file leading over the 
mountains in a circuit- 
ous way. It was original- 
ly an Indian trail over 
which the red men trav- 
elled to and from the 
Manitou Valley. When 
gold was discovered at 



beach, metonymically, it will 
boil at 212°. Now pick up 
kettle, kindling-wood, and 
thermometer, and begin 
your climb. At fifty-three 
hundred feet the water is in 
active trouble at 202°. Play- 
ing Longfellow's young 
man, Excelsior, again, at the 
altitude of 10,600 feet it is 
in a lively state of unrest 
at 192°. Another lift to 
the top of the Peak, and the 
peripatetic kettle makes a 
tambourine of the lid, and 
plays so mild a tune that 
what scalded you so prompt- 
ly and satisfactorily down 
by the sea, will be no hot- 
enough to " bear up an Qgg," wherewith 
up their hearts and limbered their tongues 




PILLAR OF JUPITER. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



23 



Leadville, and the rush for that Eldorado fairly set in, this trail was 
converted into a passable road, at an e.\i)ense of $15,000, over which 
the immense supplies were carried to that most famous of all mining; 




FREIGHT TEAMS CLIMBING UTE PASS. 



towns, Colorado City being headquarters for supplies. Two thou- 
sand horses and mules were employed to convey the necessaries 
■of life over the "Pass" to that rapidly growing po{)ulati()n, and 



24 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



Still there was privation, and even suffering, among the gold-seek- 
ers because of scant supplies. As soon, however, as rail com- 
munication with the place was established, the quantity and price 
of goods found their proper level. Twenty-five cents a pound for hay 
was a common price when it was carried over the pass, but the rail- 
road reduced it at 
'^n once to three, and 
: even less. The 
{ illustration also 
i furnishes a good 
view of Rainbow 
Falls. 

Another says of 
Ute Pass: "The 
oftener one goes 
through this pass, 
the grander it 
seems. There are 
in it no mere sem- 
blances, no delu- 
sions of atmos- 
pheric effect. It 
is as severely, 
sternly real as 
Gibraltar. Sun- 
light cannot soft- 
en it nor storms 
make it more 
frowning. High, 
rocky, inaccessi- 
ble, its walls tower 
andwind and seem 
at every turn to 
close rather than 
to open the path 
leaping, foaming 




D. ik R. G. Railway. 

MANITOU AND PIKE'S PEAK. 



through which the merry little stream con 
down. . . . 

For a short distance the road is narrow and perilous — on strips 
of ledges between two precipices, or on stony rims of the crowded 
brook, which it crosses and recrosses twenty-four times in less than 
three miles. Then the Pass widens, the rocky walls sink gradually, 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 2$ 

round and expand into lovely hills — hill after hill bearing more and 
more off to the ri<^ht and more and more off to the left — until there 
is room for bits of meadow alon<; the brook and for [proves and [grassy 
intervals where the hills join ; room and at the same time shelter, 
for the hills are still hi<;h. . . . 

We came out at sunset on a ridge from which we could look down 
into a meadow. The ridge sloped down to the meadow through a 
gateway made by two huge masses of rocks. All alone in the smooth 
grassy forest they loomed up in the dim light, stately and straight as 
colossal monoliths, though they were in reality composed of rounded 
bowlders piled one above another." 

Pike's Peak was named in honor of Gen. L. M. Pike, who discov- 
ered it in 1806. The ascent is wearisome and somewhat perilous, 
passing, as the trail does, over rugged hills and the precipitous walls 
of narrow cafions. The ascent is made from Manitou, which nestles 
at its base, as indicated by the cut. The transition is very abrupt 
from a dense pine forest to the bare, bald, storm-beaten mountain 
side where no vegetation appears, except grass here and there in 
patches among the rocks. The summit is nearly level, embracing 
about sixty acres. Near it appears a faint yellow blossom mingled 
with purple, often in great profusion, so near to the snow that blos- 
soms may be plucked with one hand and snow with the other. Two 
mighty gorges extend from the top almost to the base, one of which 
can be seen at the distance of eighty miles. 

"Pike's Peak" was the watchword of the gold-seekers in 1859, 
who flocked by thousands and tens of thousands to the region which 
"that famous landmark overlooked. The next year the product of the 
mines, within the Pike's Peak district, amounted to four million dol- 
lars. In August, i860, the population was sixty thousand; and, two 
months later, nearly two million dollars were invested in quartz-mills, 
— a fact which shows the rapidity of settlement. 

The view of Pike's Peak from Manitou is exceedingly imiM-essive. 
The town is about six thousand feet above the sea level, but the 
mountain rises more than eight thousand feet above it in unparalleled 
grandeur. Lesser peaks surround it in magnificent proportions, 
and magnify, by contrast, the majesty of their towering monarch. 

The Rio Grande Railroad Company will soon complete a railway 
to the top of the peak, where the United States Signal Service has 
had a station for several years. The following cut illustrates the 
method of ascending the great peak by rail, running thirty miles to 
ascend two. 



26 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



The Pike's Peak Railway will be the most notable piece of track 
in the world. It will ascend two thousand feet higher than the Lima 
and Oroya Railway in Peru. Its whole length, thirty miles, will be 
a succession of complicated curves and grades, with no piece of 
straight work longer than three hundred feet. 

Cheyenne Canon is situated three miles from Colorado Springs, 
and possesses many grand features. We shall occupy space only to 
call attention to the one marvellous object that makes it famous, — 
The Seven Falls. 

One who has often penetrated this caiion to gaze enraptured upon 
its wonderful Seven Falls, says : " In Cheyenne Canon, at its extreme 
end, a volume of water dashes over a dizzy height, and, leaping from 

ledge to ledge, reaches its 
granite basin, and lingers 
there awhile to recover from 
its fall before speeding on 
again toward the river lead- 
ing across the plains to the 
distant sea. This caiion, 
only three miles from town, 
is entered after climbing 
to the top of a sloping mesa, 
which commands a view of 
^^ f the city and plains. A nar- 

row path penetrates the 
mountains, and leads 
PIKES PEAK RAILWAY. through a luxurlant growth' 

of trees to where stern, 
rocky, vari-colored heights press their huge shoulders into the 
narrow way, and render climbing necessary for those who would 
go still deeper into the solitudes of the Rockies. Tall trees, up- 
rooted by the madly rushing stream which flows through the 
canon, and thrown down by the fierce winds, which, at some 
time, have swept through the narrow gorge, lie across the path 
in wild disorder. There is a balmy fragrance in the air ; a low 
rumble fills the place as the water leaps over the fallen bowl- 
ders which beset its path ; there are ever-varying shades ; and 
now and then a glimpse is had beyond the cafion's mouth, of the 
plains, which are lighted by the sunlight, while the gorge is dark 
and cold." 

Echo Canon is entered by the Union Pacific Railway at Castle 



MARVELS OF NATURE, 



27 



Rock in the Wa- 
satch Mountains, 
Utah, It embraces 
some of the wildest 
and most majestic 
scenery of the New 
West, together with 
several of the most 
original and inter- 
esting objects which 
nature ever carved. 
These begin at the 
very mouth of the 
caiion, as the cut on 
the following page 
shows. 

Nature builds on 
a magnificent scale 
at the West, and so 
her rock-pulpit, at 
the opening of Echo 
Caiion, is none of 
your modern toy af- 
fairs behind which 
an orator can hide 
all but his head. It 
is made to stand 
upon, though tow- 
ering high into the 
air ; and the imagi- 
nary preacher occu- 
pying it is supposed 
to address the mul- 
titude who pass 
down the caiion by 
generations. It is a 
fitting introduction 
to the scenes that 
follow. 

Mr. Crofutt says 
"The beauties of 







28 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



Echo Caiion are so many, so majestic, so awe-inspiring in their 
subhmity, that there is little use in calling the traveller's atten- 
tion to them. . . . Four miles below Hanging Rock the walls 
rise in massive majesty, the prominent features of the canon. 
Rain, wind, and time have combined to destroy them, but in 
vain. Centuries have come and gone since that mighty con- 
vulsion shook the earth to its centre, when Echo and Weber 
caiions sprung into existence, — twin children, whose birth was 
heralded by throes such as the earth may never feel again ; and 
still the mighty wall of Echo remains, bidding defiance alike to time 
and his co-laborers, the elements ; still hangs the delicate fret and 
frost work from the walls ; still the pillar, column, dome, and spire 

stand boldly forth in 
all their grand, wild, 
and weird beauty to- 
entrance the traveller, 
and fill his mind with 
wonder and awe." ^ 

Another says : " A 
canon is only a valley 
between the high hills ; 
that is all, though the 
word seems such a loud 
and compound mys- 
tery of warfare, both 
carnal and spiritual. 
But when the valley is 
thousands of feet deep, and so narrow that a river can barely make 
its way through by shrinking and twisting and leaping ; when one 
wall is a mountain of grassy slope, and the other wall is a mountain 
of straight, sharp stone ; when from a perilous road, which creeps 
along on ledges of the wall which is a mountain of stone, one looks 
across to the wall which is grassy slope, and down at the silver line 
of twisting, turning, leaping river, — the word canon seems as inade- 
quate as the milder word valley. This was Echo Canon. We drew 
near it through rocky fields almost as grand as the canon itself. 
Rocks of red and pale yellow color were piled and strewn on either 
hand in confusion so wild that it was majestic ; many of them looked 
like gateways and walls and battlements of fortifications ; many of 

1 Crofutt's Overland Tourist is indispensable to the traveller. It contributes information, 
direction, and interest to his travels. 




PULPIT ROCK. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



29 



them seemed poised on points, just ready to fall. Otliers rose, mas- 
sive and solid, from terraces which stretched away beyond our si^i;ht. 
. . . Then the canon walls close in aiiain, and lookin<!- down, we see 




On the Line of U. P Railway. 



HANGING ROCK. 



only a silver thread of river ; lookinj; up, we see only a blue belt of 
sky. Suddenly we turn a sharp corner and come out on a broad 
plain. The caiion walls have opened like arms, and they hold a town 
named after their own voices. Echo City. The arms are mighty, for 



30 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



they are snow-capped mountains. The plain is green and the river 
is still." 

The precedmi; cut icpi events a remarkable hanging rock, of 

which there are several 
_ in the Rocky Moun- 
^H tain region. This is 
- the most famous of 
. them all, and it is loca- 
^^ ted in the wildest part 
_- of Echo Canon. The 
canon is so crooked for 
nearly thirty miles be- 
fore reaching this rock, 
that the railway cros- 
ses the creek thirty-one 
times in twenty-six 
miles. 

Eight miles from 
Echo City the rocks 
just described are lost 
sight of, and others of 
different form, larger 
and grander, are sub- 
stituted. The canon 
also becomes wilder and 
more inaccessible, re- 
quiring tunnels to be 
cut in order to sur- 
mount serious difficul- 
ties. Here a tunnel, 
five hundred and fifty 
feet through a solid 
rock, is cut, and a little 
further on, another of 
less importance. Near 
the entrance of the first 
tunnel, formerly stood 
Finger Rock. Time 
and the elements have broken it away, but its remarkable appear- 
ance is still remembered distinctly by those who were so fortunate 
as to behold it in its original symmetry. 




On the Line of U. P. Railway 



DEVIL'S SLIDE. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 3 1 

Devil's Slide is a very singular figure, and is an object of great in- 
terest to tourists. It is serrated rocks. This slide is composed of 
two ridges of granite rock, reaching from the river nearly to the summit 
of a sloping, grass-clad mountain. They are from fifty to two hun- 
dred feet high, narrow slabs, standing on edge, as though forced 
out of the mountain side. The two ridges run parallel with each 
other, about ten feet apart, the space between them covered with 
grass, wild flowers, and climbing vines. 

If nature had intended to provide a curiosity for travellers of the 
nineteenth century, when human enterprise would tunnel and remove 
mountains, she could not have been more successful. The action of 
the elements has produced many remarkable natural phenomena, 
here and elsewhere, but few more interesting than this. We do not 
wonder that wind and water have been ages in excavating this 
mighty gorge, with so much carving on its adamantine walls. Water 
can easily percolate through mountain ranges, and finally plunge in 
torrents down weird ravines, plowing deeper and deeper, overturning, 
defacing, and destroying in its mad, onward rush : but to sculpture 
as it goes — that is not so easy. Nevertheless, here and elsewhere, 
the elements have wrought better than they knew ; and now tourists 
find pleasure in these art galleries of nature. 

Pulpit Rock is not a single shaft of granite, but is composed 
of several stones laid one upon another. It would be of little inter- 
est, of course, were it a huge pile erected by human strength and 
skill ; for then it would not be wonderful at all. It is because human 
plan and effort had nothing to do with its formation that it awakens 
interest. It is such objects as this which make a trip over the Union 
Pacific Railroad a great novelty. 

The "American Fork Canon" of Utah is grand, though devoid 
of the gorgeous coloring of Echo and Weber caiions. The walls at 
the entrance are not more than a hundred feet apart, and the peaks six 
hundred feet high. But the walls rise rapidly until they are twenty-five 
hundred feet above the road-bed. The traveller experiences a peculiar 
sensation at times from the appearance of the walls coming together 
just in advance of him, and shutting him in, so narrow is the gorge. 
Let the reader imagine himself in this crevice of the Rockies, if he 
can, with the walls towering above him eight times as high as the 
tallest of the big trees in the Yosemite Valley ; and he can form 
some idea of the impressiveness of the scene. Eight of the tallest 
trees from the Mariposa grove, one set upon another, only cover the 
distance from the bed of the canon to the tallest peaks above on 



z^ 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST 



either side ! Mr. Crofiitt puts the matter finely when he says : 
" Imagine, then, this canon with its grottos, amphitheatres, and its 
towering crags, peaks, and needle-pointed rocks, towering far above 

the road, overhanging 
it in places, with 
patches of eternal 
snow in the gloomy 
gorges near the sum- 
mit, and clothed at 
all times in a mantle 
of green, the pine, 
spruce, and cedar 
trees growing in all 
the nooks and gulches 
and away up on the 
v. ^^^^SI summit ; then count- 

' '''' less mosses and ferns 

clinging to each crev- 
ice and seam where a 
foothold can be se- 
cured, together with 
the millions of flow- 
ers of every hue; 
where the sun's rays 
are sifted through 
countless objects on 
their way to the sil- 
very, sparkling 
stream below, with 
its miniature cascades 
and eddies. We say 
imagine all these 
things, and then you 
will only have a faint 
outline of the wild 
and romantic, pictur- 
esque and glorious 
Rock," "Telescope Peak," " Sled- 
' and " Hanging Rock " are among 
the objects of peculiar interest in this canon. 

It requires no stretch of the imagination, in passing through a 




PULPIT ROCK. 

American Fork Caiion." " Lion 
runner Curve," " Rainbow Cliff,' 



MARVELS 01' NATURE. 



33 



canon like this, to behold castles, pyramids, obelisks, towers, colon- 
nades, and every sort of architecture in the marvellous rock-forma- 
tions that appear on every side. Bayard Taylor said of the view in 
another locality of the " Rockies " : " Here was a feudal castle of the 
Middle Ages ; there a shattered, irregular obelisk, or broken pyra- 
mid ; and finally, rising above from the level of a meadow, we beheld 
three perpendicular towers, eighty feet high, resting on a common 
base. Their crests were of bright orange hue, fading downward into 
white. Beyond them extended the shattered battlements of a city 




On th L ne o' U P R 



HIPPOPOTAMUb ROCK i^Ncar Sherman) 



sparkling in the sunshine." The principal part of this description 
will apply to hundreds of localities within canons and without. 

The name of the above rock is derixod from its form, which is sin- 
gular indeed. The more we stutly il. the more remarkable it api^ears. 
The foundation even is as remarkable as the rock itself, when we 
stop to reflect that it was laid by nature, and not by man. It is a 
huge affair; and here it has stood for ages, probably, in just this 



34 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



position. If it were throv/n into this position by some convulsion of 
nature, so much the more mysterious must be its history ; for then 

-, an earthquake must have 



order in its madness. Ev- 
idently the real life of this 
rock would contain a won- 
derful chapter of nature's 
effort to heave the Rocky 
Mountain region into its 
present status. 

We shall not even call 
attention to many canons, 
but close our special atten- 
tion to them by a descrip- 
tion of the greatest canon 
of all, — "The Grand 
Canon of the Colora- 
do," with several of its 
side canons. This is the 
most marvellous canon of 
the world, its name being^ 
derived from the river 
which runs through it. It 
is situated in Arizona, and 
is nearly three hundred 
miles in length. 

The United States Gov- 
ernment explored Colorado 
River and caiions, from 
1869 to 1872, doing the 
work thoroughly, under the 
lead of Captain (now Ma- 
jor) J. W. Powell. Powell 
and his men were the first 
human beings who ever 
passed through the whole 
length of the canons — a 
thousand miles. It was 
a remarkable exploit, to accomplish which they actually took their 
lives into their hands, and made a stake of everything. Once on 
their way, return was impossible : they must proceed or perish. 




Climbing the grand canon of the Colorado. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 35 

They commenced their hazardous undertakint; by entering the 
first canon, on the northery boundary of the State of Colorado. The 
ri\er was ra}Md and turbulent, taxing the skill and judgment of the 
party to keep their light boats right side up. Week after week and 
month after month they pursued their perilous way down the river, 
through tortuous gorges, hemmed in by walls on either side, often 
four, five, and six thousand feet high, not knowing but that each day 
would be their last. 

In 1854 two men. White and Strobe, wx-re seeking gold in South- 
eastern Utah, where they were attacked by Indians. They took 
refuge in one of the ui^permost canons of the river, where, upon 
reflection, they saw their only way of escape was down the ri\'er. 
To return would be sure death, as the Indians would show them no 
mercy. Constructing a rude raft with such wood as they could find, 
they started down the river. The. fourth day their raft upset as they 
were descending rapids, and Strobe was drowned. White clung to 
the raft, and succeeded in righting it ; and he continued his journey 
alone, rapids and whirlpools frequently imperilling his life. In ten 
days he reached a small Mexican settlement of a dozen poor adobe 
huts, and he was safe. He escaped from the Indians of Utah, how- 
ever, only to be killed by other Indians the following year. 

In 1855 a party of several men, led by one Ashley, made a similar 
attempt, and they were soon wrecked, and all but Ashley and one 
companion drowned. Major Powell discovered the remains of that 
wreck, and honored their brave leader by naming the spot Ashley 
Falls. Such facts show that Powell and his exploring party under- 
took a very perilous work for their country. 

By actual measurement, the walls at the highest point of the 
caiion are six thousand two iu'ndkkd feet! It is difficult for the 
reader to appreciate the depth of this canon. Perhaps the writer 
can assist him to take it in. Imagine yourself at the bottom of the 
chasm, looking upwards. It is six thousand two hundred feet to 
the edge of the precipice above. A very tall church-spire, from the 
foundation, is two hundred feet, though very few pierce the air to 
that distance. Thirty-one church-spires of two hundred feet each, 
one upon another, will just cover the distance from bottom to to|) ! 
Can your mind grasp and comprehend the grandeur of such a scene .> 
Mountain-walls rising towards the sky more than six thousand feet, 
with crags and monumental piles, jagged rocks, and barren peaks, 
wildness, weirdness, and strangeness, uniting to make the abyss sub- 
lime and mysterious beyond description! "Who is like unto thee. 



36 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



O Lord, among the gods ? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fear- 
ful in praises, doing wonders ? " 

What explorers call the " Grand Canon District " embraces so 
many marvels that it is difficult to make a selection. However, we 
shall call attention to several which have been carefully photo- 
graphed. 

Buttes in the western portion of the Grand Caiion District are 
higher than those near Kanab ; yet, in the latter region, they are 
from three hundred to six hundred feet high. "But," remarks Dut- 
ton, "what they lack in magnitude they make up in refinement and 




i^iiriv- ^ 



'.i'^i 



PERMIAN BUT 



beauty of detail, and in sumptuous color. It is in the Permian that 
we find the most remarkable buttes. They are never large, but their 
resemblance to human architecture, or works of design, are often 
amazing. Very few Permian buttes are found in the Grand Canon 
District ; but further eastward, especially in the neighborhood of the 
junction of the Grand and Green rivers, they are innumerable, and 
of such definiteness that the geologist feels as if he were taxing the 
credulity of his hearers when he asks them to believe that they are 
the works of nature alone, and not of some race of Titans." 

The Vermilion cliffs derive their name from their color, which is 
flaming red. They extend more than one hundred and twenty miles. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



37 



and their height ranges from one thousand to more than two thousand 
feet. Captain Button remarks : " Their great altitude, the remarka- 
ble length of their line of frontage, the persistence with which their 
proportions are sustained throughout the entire interval, their ornate 
sculpture and rich coloring, might justify very exalted language of 
description. But to the southward, just where the desert surface 
dips downward beneath the horizon, are those supreme walls of the 
Grand Caiion, which we must hereafter behold, and vainly strive to 
describe; and however worthy of admiration the Vermilion Cliffs 
may be, we must be frugal of adjectives, lest, in the chapters to be 
written, we find their force and meaning exhausted. They will be 
weak and vapid enough at best. Yet there are ]K)rtions of the Ver- 
milion Cliffs which, in some respects, lay hold of the sensibilities 
with a force not much less overwhelming than the majesty of the 
Grand Caiion ; not in the same way, not by virtue of the same ele- 
ments of power and impressiveness, but in a way of their own, and 
by attributes of their own. 

" The profile of Vermilion Cliffs consists of a series of vertical 
ledges rising tier above tier, story above story, with intervening 
slopes covered with talus, through which the beds project their 
fretted edges. . . . Near Short Creek it breaks into lofty truncated 
towers of great beauty and grandeur, with strongly emphasized ver- 
tical lines and decorations, suggestive of cathedral architecture on a 
colossal scale. Still loftier and more ornate become the structures 
as we approach the Virgen River. At length they reach the sub- 
lime. The altitudes increase until they approach two thousand feet 
above the plain. The wall is recessed with large amphitheatres, but- 
tressed with huge spurs, and decorated with towers and pinnacles. 

" As the sun is about to set, the cliffs glow with an orange-ver- 
milion that seems to be an intrinsic lustre emanating from the rocks 
themselves. But the great gala days of the cliffs are those when sun- 
shine and storm are waging an even battle; when the massive banks of 
clouds send their white diffuse light into the dark places, and tone 
down the intense glare of the direct rays ; when they roll over the 
summits in stately procession, wrapping them in vigor, and revealing 
cloud-girt masses here and there through wide rifts. Then the 
truth appears, and all deceptions are exposed. Their real gran- 
deur, their true forms, and a just sense of their relations are at 
last fairly presented, so that the mind can grasp them. And they 
are very grand — even sublime. There is no need, as we look upon 
them, of fancy to heighten the jiicture, nor of meta])hor to present 



38 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




MARVELS OF NATURE. 39 

it. The simple truth is quite enough. I never before had a realiz- 
ing sense of a cliff one thousand eight hundred to two thousand 
feet high. I think I have a definite and abiding one at present." 

The Pink Cliffs present a mar\-ellous scene even for the Grand 
Canon District of the Colorado. The verge of the precipice at 
the foot of the cliff is eight hundred feet above the valley. 
From this eminence the cliffs rise in beauty and grandeur, to 
fill every observer with surprise and wonder. Captain Dutton 
says : " The cliff is of marvellous sculpture and color. The rains 
have carved out of it rows of square obelisks and pilasters of uni- 
form pattern and dimensions, which decorate the front for many 
miles, giving the effect of a gigantic colonnade from which the entab- 
lature has been removed or has fallen in ruins. The Plateau Country 
abounds in these close resemblances of natural carving to human 
architecture, and nowhere are these more conspicuous or more per- 
fect than in the scarps which terminate the summits of the Marka- 
gunt and Parmsagunt Plateaus. Their color varies with the light and 
atmosphere. It is a pale red under ordinary lights, but as the sun 
sinks towards the horizon, it deepens into a rich rose color, which is 
seen in no other rocks, and is beautiful beyond description." The 
reader will understand whence the name given to the cliffs. 

Dome and Towers is another view in the Grand Canon District that 
baffles description. The Mu-kun-tu-weap, which is one of the princi- 
pal forks of the Virgen, flows between mighty walls that are covered 
with the most remarkable natural carvings. Mr. Dutton says : "The 
further wall of the caiion, at the opening of the gateway, quickly 
flings northward at a right angle and becomes the eastern wall of 
Little Zion Valley. As it sweeps down the Parunuweap (the other 
principal fork of the Virgen), it breaks into great pediments covered 
all over with the richest carving. The effect is much like that which 
the architect of the Milan Cathedral appears to have designed, though 
here it is vividly suggested rather than fully realized, as an artist 
painting in the 'broad style' suggests many things without actually 
drawing them. The sumj-ituous, bewildering, mazy effect is all there ; 
but when we attempt to analyze it in detail, it eludes us. The flank 
of the wall receding up the Mukuntuweap is for a mile or two simi- 
larly decorated, but soon breaks into new forms much more impressive 
and wonderful. A row of towers half a mile high is quarried out of 
the palisade, and stands well advanced from its face. There is an 
eloquence in their forms which stirs the imagination with a singular 
power, and kindles in the mind of the dullest observer a glowing 



40 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




Siv .,. :r^ 




MARVELS OF NATURE. 



41 



response. Just behind them, and rising a thousand feet hi^dier is 
the eastern temple, crowned with a cylindric dome of white s-ind 
stone; but smce it is, in many respects, a repetition of the nearer 




western temj^le, we may turn our attention to the hitter. Directly in 
front of us a complex group of white towers, springing from a cen- 
tral pile, mounts upwards to the clouds. Out of their midst, ant! high 
overall, rises a dome-like mass, which dominates the entire landsca 



pe. 



42 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

It is almost pure white, with brilliant streaks of carmine descending 
its vertical walls. At the summit it is truncated, and a flat tablet is 
laid upon the top, showing its edge of deep red. It is impossible to 
liken this object to any familiar shape, for it resembles none. Yet 
its shape is far from being indefinite ; on the contrary, it has a defi- 
niteness and individuality which extort an exclamation of surprise 
when first beheld. There is no name provided for such an object, 
nor is it worth while to invent one. Call it a dome ; not because it 
has the ordinary shape of such a structure, but because it performs 
the functions of a dome. 

"The towers which surround it are of inferior mass and altitude, 
but each of them is a study of fine form and architectural effect. 
They are white above, and change to a strong, rich red below. Dome 
and towers are planted upon a substructure no less admirable. Its 
plan is indefinite, but its profiles are perfectly systematic. A curtain 
wall fourteen hundred feet high descends vertically from the eaves of the 
temple, and is succeeded by a steep slope of ever-widening base-courses 
leading down to the esplanade below. The curtain wall is decorated 
with a lavish display of vertical mouldings, and the ridges, eaves, and 
mitred angles are fretted with serrated crisps. The ornamentation is 
suggestive rather than precise, but it is none the less effective. It is 
repetitive, not symmetrical. But though exact symmetry is wanting, 
nature has here brought home to us the truth that symmetry is only 
one of an infinite range of devices by which beauty can be materi- 
alized. 

" ' And finer forms are in the quarry 
Than ever Angelo evoked.' 

" The finest butte of the chasm is situated near the upper end of 
the Kaibab division, but it is not visible from Point Sublime. It is 
more than five thousand feet high, and has a surprising resemblance 
to an Oriental pagoda. We named it Vishnu's Temple." ^ 

Mr. Button continues: "Whatsoever is forcible, characteristic, 
and picturesque in the rock-forms of the Plateau Country is concen- 
trated and intensified to the uttermost in the buttes. Wherever we 
find them, whether fringing the long escarpments of terraces or 
planted upon broad mesas, whether in caiions or upon expansive 
plains, they are always bold and striking in outline, and ornate in 
architecture. Upon their flanks and entablatures the decoration 
peculiar to the formation out of which they have been carved is most 

1 Capt. C. E. Dutton. 



M/IRVELS OF NATURE. 



43 




^3.: ^^^^^^.^^, 

^^u^..^.^' 



»4^^'* 



rr-ps 



% ^. r- 




44 MARVELS OF THE NEIV WEST. 

Strongly portrayed, and the profiles are most sharply cut. They com- 
mand the attention with special force, and quicken the imagination 
with a singular power." 

Moving northward, with grandeur on each side, Captain Button 
describes another butte still more surprising in its appearance, but, 
for reasons not mentioned, it was not photographed. " The controll- 
ing object was a great butte which sprang into view immediately 
before us, and which the salient of the wall had hitherto masked. Upon 
a pedestal two miles long and a thousand feet high, richly decorated 
with horizontal mouldings, rose four towers highly suggestive of cathe- 
dral architecture. Their altitude above the plain was estimated at 
eighteen hundred feet. They were separated by vertical clefts made 
by the enlargements of the joints, and many smaller clefts extending 
from the summits to the pedestal carved the turrets into tapering but- 
tresses, which gave a graceful, aspiring effect, with a remarkable defi- 
niteness to the forms. We named it Smithsonian Butte." 

Marble Canon belongs to the Grand Canon of the Colorado. The 
illustration conveys to the reader as correct an idea of its grandeur 
as can possibly be obtained without beholding the original. Button 
says: "The Grand Canon of the Colorado crosses transversely the 
four western plateaus of the district, while the Marble Caiion trav- 
erses the eastern or fifth plateau. The two canons are only nomi- 
nally separated, for there is no gap between them. The Marble 
Caiion begins at the base of the eastern terraces. The Colorado 
River, after traversing the central mesas of the Plateau Country in a 
series of profound chasms, at length emerges from the echo of Trias- 
sic and Permian age. Here for an instant the river is in compara- 
tively an open country. But within a mile or two it begins to sink 
another chasm in the carboniferous rocks, and in the course of sixty- 
five miles the depth steadily increases until it becomes about thirty- 
five hundred to four thousand feet. This is the Marble Caiion. It 
is a gorge of very simple form, and its width is about twice as great 
as its depth. Its course is at first southwest, but gradually deflects 
to the southward. Its lower end is arbitrarily fixed at the junction 
of the Little Colorado or Colorado Chiquito, a stream coming in from 
the southeast and entering by a lateral chasm as deep as the main 
gorge itself. Below the junction the river turns westward, the walls 
grow rapidly higher, the great chasm widens out to six or eight times 
its width in the Marble Caiion, and the valley of the river is filled 
with buttcs as large as mountains and wonderfully sculptured. Here 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



45 




46 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



the river enters the Kaibab, and its walls soon attain the altitude of 
six thousand feet." 

Kanab Canon is a division of the Grand Caiion, possessing many at- 
tractions in common with Marble Canon. The cut shows that its mas- 
sive and towering walls must excite the wonder of men. Everything 
about it is grand on a large scale. As an adjunct to the Grand 
Canon, it is in complete harmony with its transcendent glories. The 
contemplation is inspiring and elevating. A man is better for taking 
in the sublime view. It awakens thoughts of the Great Architect, 
whose handiwork is so wonderful. 




LAND OF THE STANDING ROCKS. 



Captain Button writes : " A spectacle of this kind is most impres- 
sive to the geologist. It brings into one view the co-ordinated 
results of observations made laboriously by months of travel and 
inspection in a very broad and rugged field. The great distances 
through which the eye can reach, the aspect of cliffs towering above 
and beyond cliffs, the great cumulative altitude thus attained, the 
immensity of the masses revealed, the boldness of form, the distinct- 
ness of the lines of stratification, and especially the brilliant coloring, 
subdued indeed, but also refined by the haze, give to the scene a 
grandeur which has few parallels." 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



47 




KANAB CANON. 



48 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



Could anything be grander and more imposing than this " Land 
of Standing Rocks " ? It is difficult to suppress the thought that 
human industry and art have here reared vast granite temples and 
towers, such as we read of in European cities. There has been no 
touch of the artist to exaggerate the scene, for it is taken from a 
faithful photographic view, and appears here just as it is in the 
wonderful caiion of which it is a part. (See p. 46.) 

Albiquiu Peak is one of the most unique natural rock-formations in 
New Mexico, and it becomes more interesting in consequence of the 
ruins of an ancient pueblo which Macomb discovered on his way to the 




ALBIQUIU PEAK. 

peak. He says: "On the 19th of July we left Albiquiu for the 
ascent of the Albiquiu Peak. The train moving on to the Aroya 
Seco passed up the Chama to a point just beyond Albiquiu, and then 
turned to the left and ascended, by a long and difficult road, the high 
mesa which overlooks the valley on the south side. This mesa is 
here full a thousand feet above the Chama, and is connected with 
that of which the broken edge forms a bold headland below the 
town, known as Albiquiu Cliff. The mesa over which we passed 
extended, with a nearly level surface, several miles towards the peak. 
Arriving at the western border of this mesa, we looked directly down 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 49 

into the narrow but fertile valley in which is nestled the little Mexi- 
can village of Los Canones. Descending by a steep and tortuous 
path, we left our mules at the bottom and climbed a detached mcsilla 
which stands at the junction of the two branches of the valley, and 
on which is situated an ancient and ruined pueblo, once a stone-built 
town of considerable size. Even its name is now lost, and of the 
inhabitants whose busy hands constructed its walls, and whose feet 
in successive generations wore so deeply the threshold of its entrance, 
no tradition now remains. The mesa on which it stands is some five 
thousand feet in height, and the top is only to be reached by a nar- 
row and difficult path. The houses are now in ruins, but were once 
numerous, and all built of dressed stone. Within the town we 
noticed a dozen or more cstiiffas excavated from the solid rock. 
They are circular in form, eighteen to twenty feet in diameter by 
ten or twelve in depth. They all exhibited evidence of once having 
been covered with wooden superstructures. In most of them, four 
excavations on opposite sides would seem to have been used as the 
sockets for the insertion of wooden posts, and in oTie is a niche cut 
in the side, with a chimney leading from it ; probably the place where 
the sacred fire was kept perpetually burning. The style of archi- 
tecture in which the town was built, as well as the estiijfas, show 
that its inhabitants belonged to the Pueblo Indians, a race now 
nearly extinct, but once occupying every habitable portion of New 
Mexico." 1 

Mr. Macomb continues : " Spending the night at Los Canones, 
we started this morning very early for the ascent of the peak. This 
we mostly accomplished on mule-back, passing over a succession of 
hills composed of the variegated marls, — containing beds of gyp- 
sum of great thickness, — covered with a forest of piiion and cedar. 
When we had arrived within five hundred feet of the summit, we 
left our mules, and commenced the ascent on foot. This part of the 
mountain is very steep, and the upper two hundred feet is a perpen- 
dicular wall of trap-rock. The summit we found to form a cuchillo, 
a narrow, knife-like ridge, bounded on e\-ery side b}- vertical preci- 
pices. Its height above the sea is al)0ut nine thousand feet. The 
extreme summit is covered with piiion, and the slope with yellow 
pine, Douglas spruce, the western balsam fir, and the quaking-cap. 
The view from the summit was particularly fine, sweeping a circle of 
fifty miles' radius, except towards the buttes, which are very near, 
and fill the northeastern horizon." 

1 These ancient races are treated at length in Part II. of this volume. 



50 



MARVELS OF THE lYEW 1 1 EST. 



Macomb says : " l^>veryvvhere over the second plateau are scat- 
tered buttes and pinnacles, wrought, from the massive calcareous 
sandstone and the overlying Saurian beds, by the erosion which has 
swept from the surface all traces but these of the immense mass of 
sedimentary rocks which once covered it. Of these, one of the 
most striking, seen from our route, is the Casa Colorado. It is a 
detached Butte, some three hundred and sixty feet high, composed of 
sandstone covered with the harder layers of the Saurian beds. An- 
other symmetrical and beautiful dome, composed of the same mate- 
rials, is lemon-yellow, with a base of red." 




>A COLORADO BUTTE. 



Macomb examined this butte (in New Mexico) in 1859, when on 
his expedition from Santa Fe to the junction of Grand and Green 
rivers for the United States Government. It will be observed that 
the height of the butte is just that of Hunker Hill Monument. 

Captain Macomb writes : " T'rom the pinnacle on which we stood 
the eyes swept over an area some fifty miles in diameter, everywhere 
marked by features of more than ordinary interest ; lofty lines of 
massive mesas rising in successive steps to and from the frame of 
the picture, the interval between them more than two thousand feet 
below their summits. A great basin or sunken plain lay stretched 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



51 



out before me as on a map. Not a particle of vegetation was any- 
where discernible ; nothing but bare and barren rocks of rich and 
varied colors, shimmering in the sunlight. Scattered (jver the plain 
were thousands of the fantastically formed buttes to which I have 
so often referred in my notes ; pyramids, domes, towers, columns, 
spires, of every conceivable form and size. Among these, by far the 
most remarkable was riii': I'ORKst (;f (ioiHic spires, first and im[)cr- 
fectly seen as we issued from the mouth of the Caiion Colorado. 
Nothing I can say will give an adequate idea of the singular and sur- 
prising appearance which they presented from this new and advan- 




FOREbT OF GOTHIC SPIRES. 



tageous point of view. Singly, or in groups, they extend like a belt 
of timber for several miles. Ncjthing in nature or art offers a par- 
allel to these singular objects ; but some idea of their appearance 
may be gained by imagining the island of New York thickly set 
with spires like that of Trinity Church, but many of them full twice 
its height." 

"A few miles north of Camp 39," says Captain Macomb, "is the 
southwestern corner of the Mesa Verde, which stretches from this 
point northward to our former trail, and eastward, forms the north 
bank of the San Joan as far as the eye can reach. It has an altitude 



52 



MAkrKLS OF THE XEW WEST. 



of two thousand feet above camp, and presents, with its many 
detached buttes and pinnacles, its long and lofty walls, a most grand 
and imposing object. On the south side of the river, now quite near 
to us, stand out in strong relief the picturesque basaltic pinnacles of 
* The Needles.' while further south the view is bounded by the high 
ridges of the Carisso and Tunecha mountains. 

" From Camp 40 we obtained a nearer and still better view of 
'The Needles.' This is a mass of erupted rock, rising with per- 
pendicular sides from the middle of the valley. From all points 
where seen bv us, it has the appearance of an immense cathedral, of 




THE NEEDLES. 



rich, sombre brown color, terminating in two spires. Its altitude is 
about t>ne thousand feet above its base ; above the river. 2,262 feet. 
It is everywhere surrounded by stratified rocks, and its isolated posi- 
tion and peculiar form render its origin a matter of some little doubt. 
My conviction, however, is very decided that its remarkable relief is 
due to the washing away of the sediments which once surrounded it, 
and which formed the mold in which it was cast. In no other way 
can I imagine its vertical faces of one thousand feet to have been 
formed." 

"To-dav our course has been southeasterlv," continues Captain 



MARVELS OF NAT URIC. 



53 



Macomb, " approaching the southern end of the Nacimiento, through 
a region much like that of yesterday, except that as we have now 
penetrated deeply into the Middle Crustaceous shales, the surface is 
less broken, the hills being rounded, with long, gentle slopes ; the 
timber has become more sparse, the country less picturesque and 
inviting. We have here a fine view of all the interval between the 
Nacimiento and San Mateo. In the west and northwest, high mesas 
fill the horizon, forming the line of divide to which I have bef(jre 
referred. Around the base of Mount Taylor, extending many miles 
in every rljrcrtinn, is a i)latc:Mi of ir.-i|), which has apparently flowed 




from this great extinct volcano, covering all the sedimentary rocks in 
its vicinity. In the open valley of the Puerco stand many pictur- 
esque trajj buttes having a general resemblance to the needles of the 
San Juan. Of these the mo.st conspicuous, called by the Mexicans 
Cai'.azon, resembles in its outline a Spanish sombrero, but is of 
gigantic dimension.s, being at least fifteen hundred feet in height." 

The reader must bear in mind, as he examines the illustration, the 
great height of this butte. At least fifteen hundred feet ! A 
monument of rock fifteen hundred feet high, and no art about it — 
all nature ! 



54 



MAKl-EI^ OF THE XEW WEST. 



Most resplendent of all are the Painted Columns in this grand 
canon, whieh Button, in his official report to the U. S. Government, 
describes as "belts of brilliant red. vellow. and white, whieh are in- 







PAINTED COLUMNS. 



tensified. rather than alleviated, by alternate belts of gray. They 
culminate in intensity in the Permian and Lower Trias, where dark 
brownish reds alternate with bands of chocolate, purple, and laventler. 
so deep, rich, and resplendent that a painter would need to be a bold 
man to venture to portray them as they are." 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



55 




^X, "■•I'll"'* iiihiiii 

Mr. Cozzens, in his '•Three Years in Arizona and New Mexico," 
describes the scenes in the district of the Grand Canon of Colorado, 
which we transfer to our pages. 



56 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

These remarkable formations stand out bold and high, and are 
situated on the " Santa Rita del Cobre," Arizona. The towers on 
the right are singularly artistic, and yet they are not so marvellous 
as the almost perfect barracks on the left. If men had no hand in 
these creations, and invisible spirits were not the workmen, then our 
material world must be under the control of as exact laws as the 
spiritual. 

Mr. Cozzens, who first brought these sandstone formations to the 
attention of the public, says : — 

"We spent several days in this vicinity, during which time we 
visited some remarkable sandstone formations near by. We found 
about forty columns, worn by the winds and rains into most singular 
shapes. One of them measured nearly sixty feet in height, and 
more closely resembled an inverted bottle than anything we coulil 
compare it to. At its greatest circumference it measured eighteen 
feet, while at its base it was scarcely three feet. Some looked like 
churches, towers, castles, or barracks, and others very like human 
beings of colossal proportions. So striking were these resemblances, 
that it was hard to believe the hand of man had nothing to do with 
their formation." 

The City not made with Hands, is also a sandstone formation 
more marvellous than that just described ; and we are indebted to 
Mr. Cozzens for the view. He says : — 

" Half-way across this vast sandy plain two or three blue specks 
were visible, which, our guide informed us, were salt lakes ; also, 
that it was from the shores of these lakes that the Spaniards formerly 
procured their salt, and even the present inhabitants used it to a 
large extent. He said that in close proximity to these lakes was a 
very peculiar sandstone formation, well worth seeing ; and, as all 
were but a few miles distant from our direct route, we determined to 
visit them. Bringing our glasses to bear upon that portion of the 
plain pointed out by the guide, we saw what seemed to us to be a 
large city, with its spires and domes and towers glittering in the 
bright sunlight, and rivalling in splendor the creations of the genii 
conjured by Aladdin's wonderful lamp." 

The next day he and his party came into the immediate vicinity 
of the glittering city. He continues : — 

" The next morning the guide called us to behold the wonderful 
effect of the rising sun upon the city of enchantment that we had 
seen from the mountain the day before. As we approached this 
marvellous architecture of the elements, we could not repress excla- 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



57 




mations of wonder and delight. Stieets weie plamly visible , m issive 
temples with their spires and domes ; monuments of every conceiv- 
able shape; castles of huge proportions; tov/ers and minarets, all 



5 8 MAKnCLS OF THE .VEW WEST. 

formed of pure white siliea, which y,iittered in the bright sunhght 
like walls of crystal. It was hard to persuade ourselves that art had 
no part in forming these graceful testimonials to the wonders of 
nature. 

" ' Surelv." saitl Dr. Parker, 'this must be a city.' 
" ' Ves,' replied I. 'a city, but not made with hands." 
" Around the whole was a massive wall ten feet in height, with 
arched gateways and entrances as perfect as it is possible for the 
imagination of man to conceive. Entering the confines of this 
magical spot, we were soon undeceived, for what in the distance our 
own imagination had conceived to be enchanted ground, was, in 
reality, a mass of white sandstone, worn by the winds and waters 
into a wonderful similitude of a magnificent city." 

Who wonders that explorers have become enthusiastic over the 
wealth of scenery in the Grand Caiion of the Colorado .? that the 
English vocabulary has been depleted of adjectives to express human 
amazement and admiration over its revelations.-' "There are," says 
Nordhoff, " Americans who saw Rome before they saw Niagara, who 
saw Mont Blanc before they saw the Yosemite, and who saw the 
Alps and the Pyrenees before they saw the Rockies and the Sierras. 
Let them have seen all of these, with the Urals, the Andes, and the 
Himalayas thrown in ; let them have seen the boiling geysers of Ice- 
land and the belching craters of /Etna and Chimborazo ; let them 
have looked upon the wonders of the Yellowstone and listened to 
the roar of Niagara ; let them have traversed all the rest of the 
world, and until they have seen the Grand Canon oi the Colorado, the 
world's greatest wonder yet awaits them. Imagine Mount Washing- 
ton cleft from crest to base, and the sides of the chasm pushetl apart 
half a mile. Then imagine enough Mounts Washington, split in 
like manner and put irregularly together, to form a zigzag gorge 
three hundred miles long, and you have some idea of what this canon 
is. Perpendicular walls on either side of the river five thousand to 
seven thousand feet in height ! Think of it ! More than a mile of 
rocky cliff towering above you ! Look down from the lofty brink, and 
you see the river, like a silver thread, following the contour of the 
mighty abyss. Look up from beneath through its mile-high walls, 
count the stars at midday, and realize that a cannon ball would 
hardly reach the lofty summit." 

Captain Button, who speaks officially for the United States Gov- 
ernment, says: "Those who have long and carefully studied the 
Grand Canon of the Colorado do not hesitate for a moment to pro- 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 59 

nouncc it far the most sublime of all earthly spectacles. If its sub- 
limity consisted only in its dimensions, it could be sufificiently set 
forth in a sinL;ie sentence. It is more than two hundred miles long, 
from five to twelve miles wide, and from five thousand to si.x thou- 
sand feet deejD. There are in the world valleys which are longer and 
a few whicli are deeper. There are valleys flanked by summits 
loftier than the palisades of the Kaibab. Still the (irand Canon is 
the su])limest thing on earth. It is not alone by virtue of its magni- 
tude, but by virtue of its whole, its cnscuiblc.'" 

YIOLLOWSroNK NATIONAL IVXRK. 

We might very appropriately present the marvels of this locality 
under the dixision of canons, since the mighty gorge of the Yellow- 
stcjne is a canon cjf surpassing beauty and sublimity. But an act of 
Congress has set apart this dcMnain for a national park, thus giving it 
special prominence in the public mind, so that we are disposed to 
give it kindri'd imjiortance in treating of its marvels. 

The National Park is situated in the northwestern part of the 
Territory of Wyoming, embracing a small section of Idaho and Mon- 
tana. Its area is si.\ty-five miles long and fifty-five wide, or about 
3,575 square miles, ccmsiderably larger than Rhode Island and Dela- 
ware togethei". It is surrounded by mountain ranges which lift their 
lofty peaks from ten to twehe thousand feet above the sea. 

Nothing definite was known of this locality until 1869. True, 
traj:)pers and adventurers went thither before that time, but their 
re})orts were so incredible that no one believed them. Some of them 
were wholly unworthy of credence, because they were the exag- 
geratif)ns of the imagination, as the following will show : — 

" In many parts of the country petrifactions and fossils are very 
numerous, and, as a consequence, it was claimed that in one locality 
(I was not able to fi.\ it definitely) a large tract of sage is perfectly 
petrified, with all the leaves and branches in perfect condition, the 
general apjDearance of the plain being unlike (like .'') that of the rest 
of the country; hut all is stone; while the rabbits, sage hens, and 
other animals usuall}' found in such localities are still there, perfectly 
l)etrified, and as natural as when they were living ; and, more won- 
derful still, the petrified bushes bear the most wonderful fruit ; dia- 
monds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds, etc., etc., as large as black wal- 
nuts, are found in abundance." 

Messrs. Cook and Folsom explored the Yellowstone c(;untry in 



6o MARrKLS OF THE NEW WEST. 

1869, and their report of its marvels awakened public attention. In 
1 87 1 Captains Barlow and Keep, of the United States Service, made 
quite extensive explorations ; and the same year Dr. Hayden made 
an extended tour through it, giving the results of his researches in a 
report so filled with wonderful revelations as to greatly interest the 
members of Congress. He recommended that the Yellowstone 
country should be set apart for a national park ; and his recommen- 
dation was adopted in 1872 with little opposition. 

It will be seen, therefore, that the marvels of the park have re- 
cently become known to the public. Singular as it may appear, we 
have lived near this wonderful valley, and travelled around it for 
years, and been ignorant of its wonders. The vast extent of our 
country, offering such ample fields for exploration elsewhere, in the 
interest of fortune or pleasure, is a sufficient explanation of the fact 
that we have lived upon the borders of this fairyland so long with- 
out knowing it. 

An English lady, familiar with the finest scenery of lun-ope, wrote 
home from this region of marvels : " I am here in a place which, 
singularly enough, they call Wonderland. Not that the title is by 
any means inappropriate, for the place is, indeed, a land of wonders ; 
but the coincidence, at least, is somewhat remarkable, for you know 
what the associations of that word 'Wonderland' are to me. Well, 
here I am, rubbing my eyes every day, to be sure that I am not 
either in a dream or in a new world. You never saw, nor could you 
ever imagine, such strange sights as greet us here at every turn. It 
is not only that everything is big ; that is characteristic of the whole 
country, everything in nature being on a much larger scale than we 
are accustomed to in Europe. But besides the Rocky Mountains 
and a waterfall, — and a big one too, twice as high as Niagara, — 
there is the grandest old lot of geysers and boiling springs in the 
world, and a river shut in for several miles of its course by moun- 
tains rising hundreds of feet above it, — what they call a canon (pro- 
nounced canyon), the walls of which arc of such glowing colors that 
papa said he could compare it to nothing but the most gorgeous 
sunset he had ever seen." 

The Mammoth Hot Springs are situated a thousand feet above the 
banks of Gardiner River, into which their constant overflow runs. 
They appear in terraces, tier upon tier, as if laid out by a skilful 
engineer. The hot water takes up calcareous matter in its course, 
and deposits it below. "The slow but ceaseless operation of the 
springs has resulted in building up terrace after terrace of scallop- 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 6 1 

edged, limpid pools and basins of hot water, of varied size, form, and 
temperature." 

Mr. Wisner says: "The ascent to the main terrace of active 
springs is not difficult. Stepping upon the first of a series of broad 



lllllMi ■f^U 




ledges which lead to the base of the terrace, the way is threaded 
through a maze of rills of hot water over the low scalloped rims of 
hmpid, steaming pools, which it seems sacrilege to tread. The nov- 
elty and magnificence of the scene are bewildering. Not distance, but 



62 MARVELS OF THE NEW II EST. 

proximity, lends enchantment to the view. The brilliancy and variety 
of the coloring matter about the pools, as well as the delicacy and 
beauty of the formations, are indescribably wonderful. Terrace after 
terrace is thus surmounted, some of these eight or ten feet high and 
several yards in width ; others are mere ledges. On each of these 
levels the water collects in a long tier of nearly semicircular basins, 
of different diameters, lying close together. The higher terraces 
present an imposing front, the contour of their scalloped margins at 
once suggesting frozen water-falls. Over the rims of the basins on 
the topmost level the water generally pours until it finds its way into 
the reservoirs next below, repeating this process till the bottom of the 
hill is reached, where the flow is collected and carried off by several 
channels to the Gardiner River. 

"The deposits which result from evaporation at the margin of 
each basin are exquisite in form and color. The rims are fretted with 
a delicate frost-work, and the outside of each bowl is beautifully 
adorned with a honeycomb pattern, while the spaces between the 
curves are often filled with glistening stalactites. The coating of the 
sides of the basins and pools takes on every delicate and vivid tint, 
rich cream and salmon colors predominating, but these deepening 
near the edges into brilliant shades of red, brown, green, and yellow. 
The largest springs, supplying most of the water to the tiers of bowls 
on each of the terraces, are situated on a broad, level space covering 
some acres at the top of the hill. One has a basin forty feet in length 
by twenty-five in width. Others are nearly as great. The water is a 
turquoise blue, and so perfectly translucent that the most microscopic 
fretting deep down upon the sides and bottoms of the pools is plainly 
visible. This is the case with the hot spring-water everywhere. Its 
crystal clearness cannot be described ; it must be seen to be a])})reci- 
ated. The crust between the springs seems rather treacherous to 
the foot, and it is impossible to get about without soaking the shoes 
in hot water. Most of the springs have two centres of ebullition, at 
which, doubtless, the water is at the boiling point ; but at the edges 
the temperature is much lower. Around the hottest pools, in many 
cases, there are strung along the rim, like beads on a necklace, a row 
of nodules large as hazel-nuts and hard as adamant. The play of the 
waters as they seethe up from the cavernous throats of the pools, and 
undulate in miniature waves, is wonderhil. 'i'he rays of light are 
refracted by the agitation upon the surface, and are resolved into all 
the colors of the prism." 

There are a multitude of hot springs in the Park, many of them 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 63 

sufficiently hot for cooking all sorts of game. Tourists amuse them- 
selves by pulling fish out of Yellowstone Lake, and without removing 
them from the hooks, dropping them into a boiling spring near by, 
where they are soon cooked sufficiently for the table. Nature's culi- 
nary arrangements appear to be about as fine here as the wildest 
imagination could invent. 

Mr. Wisner adds : " This calcareous deposit covers an area of 
three square miles. Of this, the recent deposits, on which the springs 
are at present found, occupy about one hundred and seventy acres. 
Along the river bank there are still many active boiling springs. For 
a mile up the hillside there is terrace after terrace of extinct springs. 
Then comes the principal point of present activity, which extends with 
gradually waning power over a distance of a mile into the dense 
woods on the top of the mountain. There are fourteen well-defined 
terraces within the bounds mentioned, which are now, or have been 
at one time, the scene of boiling-spring activity." 

From the foot of the Upper Falls the river turns somewhat 
abruptly to the left, pursuing its impetuous way through a pine- 
clad gorge, over a rocky bed, towards the Grand Caiion, into which 
the Great Falls plunges with a roar and majesty indescribable. The 
fall is at least three hundred feet, or twice that of the world-renowned 
Niagara. Mr. Wisner says : " The scene from the brink of the fall, 
looking into the profound depth of the canon, is of strange majesty 
and indescribably awe-inspiring. A roomy platform at the edge of 
the fall, with a staunch railway on the river side, affords a very good 
view of the river preparing for its leap. The advancing volume of 
water flows rapidly but solidly to the brink, and falls with a tremen- 
dous shock into a large circular foaming caldron, bounded by steep 
cliffs eight hundred feet high. The masses of water seem to break 
into fleecy columns and sheets of glistening foam as they descend ; 
but they nevertheless strike the surface of the pool below with a con- 
cussion so heavy that they are forced upwards in fountains of spray 
and clouds of mist which wash the sides of the canon, nourishing a 
rank growth of mosses and algae of every grade of green, ochre, 
orange, saffron, red, scarlet, and brown." 

Mr. Gannett speaks as follows of the height of the falls : — 

" My measurement of the Lower Fall was not as simple in method, 
and allows more room for error than in the case of the Upper Fall. 
I found a point by means of the clinometer on the eastern wall of 
the canon, and very near the fall, at the same level as its top. 
Thence I stretched the line down the canon wall to the level of the 



64 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



foot of the fall, rcachiiii;- it at a point st) close that we received a 

thorou-'h clixMU-hin-- iVmu ilu- si-r.ix. TIilmi, willi a clinonu'ler. I 




aREAT falls of the YELLOWSTONE. 



measured as aecuralcly as possible the ani;le of iiulinalion of the 
line. This y,ave as the heii;ht two hundred antl ninety-seven feet. 



MAKl'I'.LS OF NAJURI:. 65 

Though this result cauuot be regarded as strietly accurate, still 
its error njust be small, and, in round numbers, three hundred feet 
may be regarded as a close approximation to tlie true height. 
Ludlow measured this fall directly by means of a sounding-line, ob- 
taining three hundred and ten feet as the height, a result agreeing 
quite closely with mine, especially when one reflects on the (lifficiilty 
of determining when the weight was at the base of the fall, in the 
cloud of mist and the rushing river. Most of the other measure- 
ments are barometric. .Such was that of Captain Jones, who gave a 
height of 328.7 feet." 

We are able to furnish a view of the Grand Canon of the Yellow- 
stone where the waters of the (ireat h'all tumble into it. Let the n-uler 
study this remarkable pictuix', to see what wf)nderful sculpturing nature 
has done here, and what towers and pilasters and s|;ires and |)i]lars the 
(jireat Architect has reared within this awful gorge. It is not only 
the colcssal grandeur of colonnade rising eight hundred feet and more 
above tlie foaming cataract ; but all the colors of the rainbow are 
painted upon those fretted walls, often blending in harmonious 
shades, t(^ vie with the finest work which the artist s[)reads ui)on 
canvas. 

Rev. Dr. Wayland Iloyt most graphically described the canon as 
he beheld it, as follows : — 

"And now, where shall 1 begin, and how sh;dl I, in any wise, 
describe this tremendous sight — its overpowering grandeur, and, at 
the same time, its impressible beauty.' 

"Look yonder — those are the Lower Lalls of the Yellowstone. 
They are not the grandest in the world, but there are none more 
beautiful. There is not the breadth and dash of Niagara, nor is 
there the enormous depth of leap of some of the falls of the Yoscmite. 
But here is majesty of its own kind, and beauty too. On either side 
are vast pinnacles of sculptured rock. There, where the rock opens 
for the river, its waters are compressed from a width of two hundred 
feet between the Upper and Lower 1^'alls to one hundred feet where it 
takes the ])lunge. The shelf of rock over which it lea])s is absolutely 
level. 'I'he water seems to waif a moment on its verge ; then it passes 
with a single bound of three hundred feet into the gorge below. It is a 
sheer, unbroken, compact, shining mass of silver foam. But your eyes 
are all the time distracted from the fall itself, great and beautiful as it is, 
1o its marvellous setting — to the surprising overmastering cafion into 
which the river leaps and through which it flows, dwindling to but a 
foamy libbon there in its appalling depths. As you cling here to 



66 



ALlATh'LS QF THE NEW WEST. 




GRAND CANON OF THE YELLOWSTONE. 



MARVJiLS ()/'' NAIUNI-:. 6 J 

this juttin;^ rock the falls arc already many hundred feet below you. 
'I"hc ialls unroll their whiteness down amid the caiion glooms. . . . 
Ihcse rocky sides are almost pcr])endicular ; indeed, in many places 
th(j boiling springs have gouged them out so as to leave f;verhanging 
cliffs and tables at the top. Take a stone and throw it over — you 
must wait long before you hear it strike. Nothing more awful have 
I ever seen than the yawning of that chasm. And the stillness, 
solemn as midnight, jorofound as death ! The water dashing there, 
as in a kind of agony, against those rocks, you cannot hear. The 
mighty distance lays the finger of its silence on its white li];s. You 
are oppressed with a sense of danger. It is as tjiough the vastness 
would soon force you from the rock to which you cling. The silence, 
the sheer depth, the ghtom, burden you. It is a relief to feel the 
firm earth beneath your feet again, as you carefully crawl back frtnii 
your perching place. 

"But this is not all, nor is the half yet told. As sofjn as you can 
stand it, go out on that jutting rock again and mark the sculpturing 
of Ciod upon those vast and solemn walls. By dash of wind and 
wave, by forces of the frost, by file of snow plunge and glacier and 
mountain torrent, by the hot breath oi boiling springs, th(;se walls 
have been cut into the most various and sur])rising shapes. I have 
seen the Middle Age castles along the Khine : there thf^se castles are 
reproduced exactly. I have seen the soaring summits of the great 
cathedral spires in the country beyond the sea : there they stand in 
prototype, only loftier and sublimer. 

"And then, of course, and almost beyond all else, you are fasci- 
nated by the magnificence and utter opulence of color. Those are 
not simply gray and hoary depths and reaches and domes and pinna- 
cles of sullen rock. The whole gorge flames. It is as though rain- 
bows had fallen out of the sky and hung themselves there like 
gloricjus banners. The underlying c(jlor is the clearest yellow ; this 
flushes onward into orange. Down at the base the deepest mosses 
unroll their draperies (A the most vivid green ; browns, sweet and 
soft, do their blending ; white rocks stand spectral ; turrets of rock 
shoot i\\) as crimson as though they were drenched through with 
blood. It is a wilderness of color. It is impossible that even the 
pencil of an artist can tell it. What you would call, accustomed to 
the .softer tints of nature, a great exaggeration, would be the utmost 
tameness compared with the reality. It is as though the most glori- 
ous sunset you ever .saw had been caught and held upon that resplen- 
dent, awful gorge. 



68 



.]/.lKl'ELS OF THE IVEH' WEST. 



" Through nearly all the hours of that afternoon until the sunset 
shadows came, and afterwards, amid the moonbeams, I waited there, 
clinging to the rock, jutting out into that overpowering, gorgeous 
chasm. I was appalled and fascinated, afraid and yet compelled to 
cling there. It was an epoch in my life." 

Glass Cliffs are not usual. Sight-seers are usually satisfied with 
sandstone or granite ones, provided they are tall enough. But here 
are cliffs composed of volcanic glass, with a glass road along their 
base. Nature made the cliffs just as they are, but man made the 
road of materials which nature furnished. Mr. Wisner describes the 
cliffs thus : — 




BSIDIAN CLIFFS. 

"These cliffs rise like basalt in almost venical columns from the 
eastern shores of Beaver Lake, and are probably unequalled in the 
world. They are from one hundred and fifty to two hundred and 
fifty feet in height and one thousand feet in length, although there 
are croppings of the same material to be traced as far as the 
Lake of the Woods, two miles beyond. This volcanic glass glis- 
tens like jet, but is quite opaque. Sometimes it is variegated 
with streaks of red and yellow. Large blocks of it have been, 
from time to time, detached, forming a sloping barricade at an 
angle of 45° to the hot springs at the margin of Beaver Lake. It 
was necessary to build a carriage road over these blocks. This was 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



69 



accomplished by Colonel Norris, late superintendent of the Park, by 
building great fires upon the largest masses, which, after they had 
been sufficiently expanded by the heat, were suddenly cooled by 
dashing cold water over them. This had the effect of fracturing the 
blocks into fragments which could be handled, and a glass carriage- 
way a quarter of a mile in length was made. Without doubt this is 
the only piece of glass road in the world. Blocks of obsidian are to 
be found along the Gardiner River for a few miles below the cliffs, 
and the whole region from Paradise Valley, in the Upper Yellow- 
stone, southward, is strewn with chips and pebbles of this material. 
On the bays of the Yellowstone Lake, and in many of the clear 

stream beds, tiny 
fi agments of obsid- 
ian are to be seen 
glittering like 
L,ems. 

" Obsidian is a 
species of lava, 
which, according 
t(i Pliny, was first 
tound in Iiithiopia. 
1 he name, how- 
ever, seems to have 
been applied by 
the ancients to 
Chian marble, and 
IS probably a false 
spelling of the 
( i r e e k opsianiis, 
signifying to re- 
flect images, be- 
■^"^ I cause the Chian 
hudIl was a-5 hard to cut as 
the \oltanic glass and was 
Used loi miiiois 

■• rhe Indians used this glass in 
making arrow-heads, weapons, and 
tools. Relics of this sort, which tourists find, seem to be made of 
the superior quality of obsidian which was procured at the cliffs. 
An impure variety, black, with white flecks, is common at other 
points within the Park, notably near the Great Falls of the Yellow- 








TOWER FALLS. 



yo MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

stone, at the cascade at Crystal Trills, near Shoshone Lake, on the 
Continental Divide. " 

It is twenty-one miles from the Mammoth Hot Si)rini;-s to Tower 
Falls, and a very good wagon road leads thither. The distance 
between the two localities is crowded with marvels, such as the lava 
beds of Blacktail Deer, and t)ther creeks, Hell-roaring Creek, Dry 
Canon, and down the mountain slope of two thousand feet into 
Pleasant Valley and Baronette's Bridge, at the forks of the Yellow- 
stone River. "The Falls are surrounded by columns of volcanic 
breccia, rising fifty feet above them, standing like the towers upon some 
mediaeval fortress." The fall is one hundred and thirty-two feet. Mr. 
Langford, superintendent of the Park, says : " Some resemble towers, 
others the spires of churches, and others still shoot up little and slender 
as the minarets of a mosque. Some of the loftiest of these formations, 
standing ujion the \cry brink of the Falls, are accessible to an expert 
and adventurous climber. The position attained on one of these 
narrow summits, amid the uproar of waters, to the height of two 
lumdred feet above the boiling chasm, as the writer can affirm, 
requires a steady head arid strong nerves ; yet the view which 
rewards the temerity of the exploit is full of compensations. Below 
the fall the stream descends in numerous rapids with frightful 
velocity, through a gloomy gorge, to its union with the Yellowstone. 
Its bed is filled with enormous bowlders, against which the rushing 
waters break with great fury. Many of the capricious formations 
wrought from the shale excite merriment as well as wonder. Of 
this kind especially is the huge mass, sixty feet in height, which, 
from its supposed resemblance to the proverbial foot of his Satanic 
Majesty, is called the Devil's Hoof. The scenery of mountain, rock, 
and forest, surrounding the Falls, is very beautiful. The name of 
Tower Falls was, of course, suggested by some of the most conspic- 
uous features of the scenery." 

Lieutenant Doane, in his report to the United States Govern- 
ment, says: "The sides of the chasm are worn into caverns, lined 
with various tinted mosses, nourished by clouds of spray which rise 
from the cataract ; while above, and to the left, a spur from the great 
]-)lateau rises over all, with a perpendicular front of four hundred 
feet. Nothing can be more chastely beautiful than this lovely cas- 
cade, hidden away in the dim light of overshadowing rocks and 
woods, its verv voice hushed to a low murmur, unheard at the dis- 
tance of a few hundred yartls. Thousands might pass within a half 



A/.lA'l7-:/.S ()/■• NATURIC. 



'/I 



mile, and not dream of its existence ; but once seen, it passes to the 
list of most pleasant memories." 




KEPLER'S CASCADES ON THE FIREHOLE RIVER. 



A marvel indeed ! It is one of the things of nature which can- 
not he extravagantly described. After making large drafts upon the 
"King's I^nglish," there is still some margin left for accurate por- 



72 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

trayal. The symmetry of these cascades is one of their chief attrac- 
tions, so exact to the demands of Art has Nature been. Mr. Wisner 
has the following about them : — 

" These beautiful cascades are situated about two miles eastward 
of Old Faithful Geyser. They consist of a succession of eight or 
ten cascades of varying height, the highest, perhaps, fifty feet. The 
water has cut a narrow channel through the basaltic rock, forming a 
profound canon, through which the torrent frets and fumes in wild 
tumult. From the best point of observation, a high and rocky 
plateau some distance below the principal cascade, the scene is quite 
romantic and picturesque. The foaming waters rush down the 
gorge, roaring and tumbling against the solid walls of rock which 
hem them in. The canon is very deep, and its sheer descent is 
broken by rough and jagged crags which beetle over the stream. 
Slender, symmetrical pines, straight as lances, grow on the brink of 
the canon, and on the inclosing mountain slopes, as far as the vision 
reaches. They also cling to every nook and cranny on the sides of 
the terrible gorge, standing like sentinels on every moss-clad point of 
vantage. Westward lie the purple mountains, majestic in outline, 
and clothed with the virgin forest of sombre pine. In the middle 
distance arise filmy columns of vapor from the geysers and hot 
springs of the Upper Basin, floating upward, and fading into space, 
as an incense offering to the Creator of the wondrously beautiful 
scene. Kepler's Cascades are really quite bewitching in their loveli- 
ness, the harmony of the picture leaving nothing to be desired, as 
the romantic is here picturesquely perfect, the colors of the vegeta- 
tion on the rocks in contrast to the foaming water delighting the 
eye. The visitor reluctantly leaves this idyllic spot." 

Yellowstone Park can boast of one of the most wonderful buttes 
known, as the illustration proves (p. 'j'^^. Nature has built up here 
a stone palace, of which Art itself might well be proud. It is remark- 
able workmanship, when we consider that it was built without square 
or compass or the sound of a hammer. Its size, form, and symmetry 
impress the beholder as onl)- a marvel can. 



(;i:vsi;rs. 

The geysers are the great marvels of the Yellowstone Park. They 
are very numerous, and many of them are beautiful and grand beyond 
description. The most important ones are found in "The Upper 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 




On the Line of U. P. Railroad. 



PALACE BUTTE, 



74 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



Geyser Basin," which extends "from Old Faithful down the main 
Firehole River to a point just below the mouth of the Little Firehole 
River, and along Iron Spring Creek, a branch of the last-named 

stream." This 
basin is four 
miles square, 
but the chief 
geysers are sit- 
uated on both 
sides of the riv- 
er w i t h i n a 
half-mile. 1 1 
is surrounded 
by mountains 
rising fifteen 
hundred feet, 
their sides be- 
ing cjuite heavi- 
!)• timbered. 
Here opens a 
scene of splen- 
dor. " Clouds 
of steam hang 
as a i)all over 
the ]^asin, and 
columns of \a- 
por float UJ1- 
ward like water 
wraiths from 
between the 
tree-tops of the 
s u r r u n ding 
forests. The 
earth is full 
of rumbling 
] and gurgling 
sounds, anel the 
air is laden 
)f boiling water, 
heiirhts, like cas- 




ln^ 



with sulphurous fumes. Stupendous fount; 
veiled in spray, shoot toward heaven, at varying 



:ades reversed, glinting and coruscating and scintillating in the sun- 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 75 

light until their force is expended, when they fall in showers of flash- 
ing pearls with a shock that shakes the ground. Of course, the vari- 
ous geysers of the Basin are never simultaneously in action. The 
periods of eruption of each one of them are more or less irregular. 
Many geysers which now exist will, doubtless, sooner or later cease 
operation, and new ones will form to take the place of those which 
dwindle away." 

We rely chiefly upon the report of the United States Geological 
Survey, under the direction of Dr. F. V. Hayden, for a description of 
the principal geysers. 

The eruptions of the Old Faithful geyser are so regular that a 
favorable opportunity is offered the tourist for careful observation. 
It played once an hour for the benefit of the United States Survey, 
who highly appreciated their opportunity. It was this characteristic 
of the geyser which led the Survey to christen it " Old 1^'aithful." 
The eruption begins with from six to twelve spurts, continuing about 
four minutes, growing more powerful, and then followed by a remark- 
able succession of jets, accompanied by a startling roar and clouds of 
steam, the water shooting upward into the air one hundred and fifty 
feet at its maximum. 

Lieutenant Doane, of the expedition, wrote: "Close around the 
opening are built up walls eight feet in height, of spherical nodules 
from six inches to three feet in diameter. These, in turn, are covered 
on the surface with minute globules of calcareous [silicious] stalag- 
mite(?), encrusted with a thin glazing of silica. The rock at a dis- 
tance appears the color of ashes of roses, but near at hand shows a 
metallic gray, with pink and yellow margins of the utmost delicacy. 
Being constantly wet, the colors are brilliant beyond description. 
Sloping gently from this rim of the crater in every direction, the 
rocks are full of cavities in successive terraces, forming little pools, 
with margins of silica the color of silver, the cavities being of irreg- 
ular shape, constantly full of hot water, and precipitating delicate 
coral-like beads of a bright saffron. These cavities are also fringed 
with rock around the edges in meshes as delicate as the finest lace. 
Diminutive yellow columns rise from their depths, capped with small 
tablets of rock, and resembling flowers growing in the water. Some 
of them are filled with oval pebbles of a brilliant white color, and 
others with a yellowish frost-work which builds up gradually in solid 
stalagmites (.^). Receding still farther from the crater, the cavities 
become gradually larger and the water cooler, causing changes in the 
brilliant colorings, and also in the formation of the deposits. . . . 



76 



MARTELS OF THE NEir WEST. 



The deposits arc apparently as delicate as the down on the butterfly's 
wing, both in texture and coloring, yei are firm and solid beneath the 
tread. . . . Those who have seen the stage representations of 
'Aladdin's Cave' and the 'Home of the Dragon-Fly,' as produced 

in a first-class the- 
atre, can form an 
idea of the won- 
derful coloring, 
but not of the in- 
tricate frost-work 
of this fairy-like 
yet solid mound of 
rock, growing up 
amid clouds of 
steam and showers 
of boiling water. 
One instinctively 
touches the hot 
ledges with his 
hands, and sounds 
with a stick the 
depths of the cavi- 
ties in the slope, 
in utter doubt in 
the evidence of his 
own eyes. The 
beauty of the scene 
takes away one's 
breath. It is over- 
powering, tran- 
scending the vis- 
ions of the Mos- 
lem's Paradise." 

Dr. Hay den 
wrote : " With lit- 
tle or no prelimi- 
nary warning, it 
shot up a column of water about six feet in diameter to the height of 
one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet, and by a succession of 
impulses seemed to hold it up steadily for the space of fifteen min- 
utes, the great mass of the water falling directly back into the basin, 




IVE GEYSER. 



MARVELS O/- NATURJL 77 

and flowing over the edges and down the sides in large streams. 
When the action ceases, the water recedes beyond sight, and nothing 
is heard but the occasional escape of steam until another exhibition 
occurs. This is one of the most accommodating geysers in the basin, 
and during our stay ]jlayed once an hour quite regularly." 

Bee Hive Geyser was so named because of the resemblance 
of its cone to an old-fashioned straw beehive. Its cone is from three 
to five feet in height, and five feet in diameter at its base. A mem- 
ber of the survey party says of it : " Not one of our company sup- 
posed that it was a geyser, and among so many wonders it had almost 
escaped notice. While we were at breakfast, upon the morning of 
our departure, a column (;f water, entirely filling the crater, shot from 
it, which, by accurate triangular measurement, we found to be two 
hundred and nineteen feet in height. The stream did not deflect 
more than foui" or five feet from a vertical line, and the eruption 
lasted eighteen minutes." 

Another member of the expedition wrote : " It is beautifully 
coated with beaded silica. There is no surrounding terraced deposit, 
as there is about most of the craters. This is probably due to the 
fact that very little water falls arownd it. The orifice on the summit 
of the cone measures two feet by three, anrl a line droj>ped into the 
tube reaches a depth of twenty-one feet. Just outside of the cone 
are several vents or steam-holes, one of which acts as a sort of pre- 
liminary vent or signal for the eruption of the geyser. The eruption 
of the Bee Hive is very fine and peculiar to itself, no other geyser in 
the basin acting in the same manner. It is preceded by a slight 
escape of steam in a steady stream of great force, much as water is 
projected from the nozzle of hose used with steam fire-engines. The 
column is somewhat fan-shaped, and keeps a high average height. 
The ground is shaken during the action. The geyser acts certainly 
once in twenty-four hours, and occasionally oftencr." On the i8th 
of September, 1882, the writer observed two fine eruptions with an 
interval of only fourteen hours. The height of the column varies 
from a hundred and seventy to two hundred and nineteen feet ; and 
when the spray is between the beholder and the sun, a magnificent 
rainbow is visible. 

The Giantess Geyser has no cone. It is situated four hundred feet 
from the Bee Hive, higher up, and spouts from the top of the 
ground. Its aperture is twenty-four by thirty-four feet. The depth 
of its basin is sixty-three feet. The eruption occurs once in fourteen 
days, and it sends up a mighty column two hundred and fifty feet into 



78 



MARl'KLS OF THE NEW WEST. 



m a 
feet 



colli m 
; and 



the air, which assumes the 
form of separate fountains, 
one above the other. The 
eruption is accompanied 
with deep rumbling and 
trembling of the earth, 
which is startling indeed, 
especially in the night, 
when its greatest activity- 
appears. Mr. Langford 
reported : " No water could 
be discovered, but we could 
distinctly hear it gurgling 
and boiling at a great dis- 
tance below. Suddenly it ■ 
began to rise, boiling and 
spluttering, and sending 
out huge masses of steam, 
causing a general stam- 
pede of our company, 
driving us some distance 
from our point of observa- 
tion. When within about 
forty feet of the surface it 
became stationary, and we 
returned to look down 
upon it. It was foaming 
and surging at a terrible 
rate, occasionally emitting 
small jets of hot water 
nearly to the mouth of the 
orifice. All at once it 
seemed seized with a fear- 
ful spasm, and rose with 
incredible rapidity, hardly 
affording us time to flee to 
a safe distance, when it 
burst from the orifice with 
terrific momentum, rising 
n the full size of this immense aperture to the height of si.xty 
through and out of the apex of this vast aqueous mass five or 




THE GIANTESS GEYSER. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



79 



six lesser jets or round columns of water, varying in size from six to 
fifteen inches in diameter, were projected to the marvellous height 
of two hundred and fifty feet. These lesser jets, so much higher 
than the main column, and shooting through it, doubtless proceed 
from auxiliary pipes leading into the principal orifice near the bottom, 
where the explosive force is greater. . . . This grand eruption con- 
tinued for twenty minutes, and was the most magnificent sight we 




ever witnessed. We were standing on the side of the geyser nearest 
the sun, the gleams of which filled the sparkling columns of water 
and spray with myriads of rainbows, whose arches were constantly 
changing, dipping and fluttering hither and thither, and disappearing 
only to be succeeded by others, again and again, amid the aqueous 
column, while the minute globules, into which the spent jets were 
diffused when falling, sparkled like a shower of diamonds ; and around 
every shadow which the denser clouds of vapor, interrupting the sun's 



8o 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



rays, cast upon the column, could be seen a luminous circle, radiant 
with all the colors of the prism, and resembling the halo of glory 
represented in paintings as encircling the head of Divinity. All that 
we had previously witnessed seemed tame in comparison with the 
perfect grandeur and beauty of this display. Two of these wonderful 
eruptions occurred during the twenty-two hours we remained in the 
valley. This geyser we named the Giantess." 

The Fan Geyser is very beautiful. Its eruptions are frequent, 
and last from ten to twenty minutes. It discharges five radiating 
jets to the height of sixty feet, the falling drops and spray giving the 
appearance of a fan. Forty feet distant, a rent discharges a great 
volume of vapor, rising sixty feet or more into the air, attended by 
loud, sharp reports. Lieutenant Doane says : — 

" First the steam would rush from the upper crater, roaring vio- 
lently, then this would suddenly cease, to be followed by a fan-like 
jet of water rising from the lower crater to the height of over forty 
feet, playing for perhaps two minutes ; then this would suddenly stop 
flowing, and the steam would again rush forth for a time. Occasion- 
ally the small crater threw a transverse stream, alternating with the 
others ; and thus they played on for hours, after which all would sub- 
side to a gentle bubbling." 

Without absorbing more space on the subject of geysers, \vc only 
add, that these considered are not, perhaps, the most marvellous ones 
in the Park. Dr. Hayden claims that there are more than ten thou- 
sand hot springs and geysers in the Yellowstone district. The illus- 
trations furnished give a correct idea of the characteristics of all. So 
that we only add a table showing the time of action of the principal 
geysers in the Upper Basin : — 



1. Old Faithful 

2. Bee Hive . . 

3. Lioness . . . 

4. Lion . . . . 

5. Ciiantcss . . 

6. Saw Mill . . 

7. C.r.ind . . . . 
S. I'ui^an . . . 
9. Castle . . . . 

10. Giant . . . . 



iNTIiKVAL OR PERIOD. DURATION OF EkITTION. 



50 to 70 minutes , 
7 to 25 hours . . 
Not known . . . 
Not known . . . 

14 (lays 

\'cry frc(iuent . . 
16 to \\ hours . 



3 to 5 minutes . . 
3 to 18 minutes . 
About 3 minutes . 
.\lK)ut 5 minutes . 

12 hours 

1^4 to 3 hours . . 
10 to 42 minutes . 



Heu;ht of Colf 



About 15 minutes . 15 seconds to 5 min. 

Once in 48 hours . 30 minutes 

Once in 4 days . . i^ hours to 3 hours 



75 to 150. 
200 to 219. 
60. 

75- 
250. 

15 to 20. 
95 to 200. 

25- 



nrARVELS OF NATURE. 



8i 



Name of Geyser. 


Interval or Period. 


Duration of Eruption. 


Height of 


Column. 


11. Young Paithful 

12. Oblong .... 






10 to 30. 




Once or twice daily 


6 minutes 




13. .Splendid . . . 


About 3 hours . . . 


4 to 10 minutes . . . 


200. 




14. Grotto .... 


Several times a day 


30 minutes 


20 to 60. 




15. Fan 


Three times daily . 


5 to 9 minutes .... 


About 60. 




16. Riverside . . . 


Three times daily . 


10 to 13 minutes . . . 


About 60. 





A tourist say.s of the Geyser Basin : "It looked as if it had been 
built up of old refuse matter from foundries ; as if for centuries men 
had sifted ashes and thrown out clinkers and bad coal and waste 
stones and junk and every conceivable sort of scorched metallic thing 
into this chasm ; and as if several apothecary shops had burnt down 
there too, for there was a new color and worse odor at every other 
step. And the little guide, striking his cane or fingers into bank 
after bank, kept bringing forth crumbs and powders, and offering 
them to us to taste or smell, with, ' Here is pure alum ' ; ' Here is 
Epsom salts ' ; ' Here is sulphur ' ; ' Here is cinnebar ' ; ' Here is 
soda,' till we felt as if we were in the wholesale drug-shop of the 
universe. Meantime, he skipped along from rock to rock like a 
chamois ; and we followed on as best we might, through the hot 
steam, which came up hissing and fizzing out of every hole and from 
beneath every stone. A brook of hot water running swiftly over and 
among rocks ; pools and cauldrons of hot water boiling and bubbling 
by dozens all around ; black openings, most fearful of all where no 
water can be seen, but from which roaring jets of steam come out, — 
this is the bottom of the Geyser Canon. You think you will plant 
your stick on the ground to steady yourself for a spring from one 
hot stone to another, and down goes your stick, down, down into 
soft, smoking, sulphurous, gravelly sand, so far and so suddenly that 
you almost fall on your face. You draw the stick up and out, and a 
small column of hot steam follows it. Next you make a misstep, and 
involuntarily catch hold of a projecting point of rock with one hand. 
You let go, as if it were fire itself. It does not absolutely blister 
you, but it is too hot to hold. Your foot slips an eighth of an inch 
out of the guide's footsteps, which you are following as carefully as if 
life and death depended on it, and you go in over shoes in water, so 
hot that you scream and think you are scalded. You are not ; but if 
you had slipped a few inches further to right or to left, you would 



82 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

have been, for on each side inky-black water is boiling so that it bub- 
bles aloud. All this while, besides the hissing and fizzing of the 
steam and boiling and bubbling of the water which you see, there 
is a deep violoncello undertone of boiling and bubbling and hissing 
and fizzing of water and steam which you do not see, which are deep 
down under your feet, — deep down to right of you, deep down to left 
of you, — making the very caiion itself throb and quiver. How thick 
the crust may be, nobody knows. That it can be thick at all seems 
improbable when, prick it where you may, with ever so slender a stick, 
the hot steam rushes out." 

A tourist remarked, after having taken in the pleasures of the 
Yellowstone, "See Yellowstone Park, and die!" It is very foolish 
advice ; for the man who has beheld its marvels ought to desire to 
live all the more, to glorify the Great Architect, who builds so grandly 
even where the wild beast only dwells. Looking " through Nature 
up to Nature's God" can be done easily in this "Wonderland," and 
the overwhelming influence may help one to live better all his life. 
See Yellowstone Park, and live ! is better counsel for the human 
race. All of its impressions are grand and ennobling in the highest 
degree, — just the inspiring elements which lift the soul into honor, 
and beget lofty aims. 

YOSEMITE VALT.F.Y. 

The marvels of the Yosemite Valley stand pre-eminent among the 
wonders of the New West. Europeans who have explored this valley 
are surprised that Americans should go abroad to enjoy Alpine scen- 
ery, when California can introduce them to grander sights. 

The Yosemite Valley was not visited by a white man until 1850. 
Then, two adventurers penetrated it in search of gold mines ; and the 
Indians, who held possession of all that region, murdered them. It 
is only thirty-two years (1855) since a party of tourists entered the val- 
ley. Since then, writers and painters from all parts of the world have 
explored it, to tell of its marvels to astonished nations. 

In 1857 Yosemite was formally opened to the jniblic ; and in 
1864 it was set apart forever as a national ])ark. It is situated one 
hundred and fifty miles east of San Francisco, about midway of the 
State from north to south. Formerly it was quite difficult of access, 
but now it can be easily reached. A tourist writes of this valley of 
enchantment as follows : — 

"The Yo.semite ! As well interpret God in thirty-nine articles as 



MARVELS OF NATURE. S3 

portray it to you by word of mouth or pen. As well reproduce cas- 
tle or cathedral by a stolen frieze or broken column as this assem- 
blage of natural wonder and beauty by photograph or painting. The 
overpowering sense of the sublime, of awful desolation, of transcend- 
ing marvellousness and unexpectedness, that swept over us, as we 
reined our horses sharply out of green forests, and stood upon the 
high jutting rock that overlooked this rolling, upheaving sea of gran- 
ite mountains, holding far down its rough lap this vale of beauty of 
meadow and grove and river, — such tide of feeling, such stoppage of 
ordinary emotions, comes at rare intervals in any life. It was the 
confrontal of God face to face, as in great danger, in solemn, sudden 
death. It was Niagara magnified. All that was mortal shrank 
back ; all that was immortal swept to the front and bent down in 
awe. We sat till the rich elements of beauty came out of the majesty 
and the desolation, and then, eager to get nearer, pressed tired horses 
down the steep, rough path into the valley. 

"And here we wandered and wondered and worshipped for four 
days. Under sunshine and shadow ; by rich, mellow moonlight ; by 
stars opening double wide their eager eyes ; through a peculiar 
August haze, delicate, glowing, creamy, yet hardly perceptible as a 
distinct element, — the New England Indian summer haze doubly 
refined, — by morning and evening twilight, across camp-fires, up 
from beds upon the ground through all the watches of the night, have 
we seen this, the great natural wonder of our western world. Indeed, 
it is not too much to say that no so limited space in all the known 
world offers such majestic and impressive beauty. Niagara alone 
divides honors with it in America. Only the whole of Switzerland 
can surpass it ; no one scene in all the Alps can match this so viv- 
idly before me now in the things that mark the memory and impress 
all the senses for beauty and for sublimity." 

"Yosemite" is a chasm rather than a valley; averaging one-half 
mile in width, and from six to eight miles in length, completely sur- 
rounded by a perpendicular granite wall from a half-mile to a mile in 
height. At " Inspiration Point " the wonders of the valley burst 
upon the view. If the tourist's head is level, he can look straight 
down five thousand feet. 

"Cathedral Rock" lifts its peak high into the air, and stands out 
prominently in the grand panorama. The " Rock " is two thousand 
six hundred and eighty feet high, and its loftiest peak rises five hun- 
dred feet higher, its magnificent proportions presenting a scene of sur- 
prising grandeur. Six Washington monuments, one upon another. 



84 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



scarcely cover the height of these tremendous "Rocks." The writer 
just quoted says : — 

" Here and there are grand massive domes, as perfect in shape as 
Boston's state-house dome, and bigger than the entire of a dozen 
State-houses. The highest rock of the valley is a perfect half-dome. 




CATHEDRAL ROCK. 



split shar]:) and square in the middle, and rising near a mile (or five 
thousand feet), — as high as Mount Washington is above the level of 
the sea, — over the little lake which perfectly mirrors its majestic 
form at its foot. Perfect pyramids take their places in the wall ; 
then these pyramids come in families, and mount away one after and 
above the other, as ' The Three Brothers.' 'The Cathedral Rocks' 
and 'The Cathedral Spires' unite the great impressivencss, the 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



85 




EL CAPITAL. 



86 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



beauty, and the fantastic forms of the gothic architecture. F'rom 
their shape and color alike, it is easy to imagine, in looking upon 
them, that you are under the ruins of an old gothic cathedral, to 
which those of Cologne and Milan are but baby-houses." 







BRIDAL VEIL FALL. 



Stupendous as "Cathedral Rock" i.s, "El Capitan " is still more 
massive and imposing. It is three thousand three hundred feet high, 
aud projects squarely out into the valley, rising vertically. Not a 
sprig or spear of vegetation appears upon its sides, only bare, rugged 
granite. It is difficult to appreciate the size of this rock ; but some 
idea of its dimensions may be acquired from the fact, that, in a clear 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 8/ 

day, it can be seen from San Joaquin plains, from fifty to sixty miles 
away. A writer says : — • 

" You descend by a zigzag- trail to the valley. It seems like 
descending into a grave. You feel imprisoned, for all about there is 
no exit except over the precipitous sides. You are four thousand 
feet above the sea, and nearly a mile below the surrounding moun- 
tains, which environ this sombre valley. The trees look stunted. 
They are two hundred feet high. The mere ribbon, the Bridal Veil 
Falls, is found quite a torrent, and from the new view seems a single 
fall of nine hundred feet. El Capitan, half-mile away, you think you 
can hit with a pebble. Grasp its height ! It is giant masonry most 
matchless, and for clean-cut bulk is without example. If it toppled 
over, one hundred and sixty acres would be covered by the prostrate 
mass. It is as lofty as the heaped-up spires of twelve Trinity 
churches. St. Peter's is four hundred and forty-eight feet high. It 
would take eight to gain the altitude of El Capitan's crest. The top- 
most pinnacle of Strasburg Cathedral glitters in the sun four hundred 
and sixty-eight feet above its foundation walls. It is less than one- 
seventh as high as El Capitan." 

Bridal Veil Fall can be seen so far away that it appears like a 
mere ribbon. On approaching it, however, it becomes a torrent 
tumbling six hundred and thirty feet at the first leap, continuing 
three hundred feet more in beautiful cascades. (3n the other side of 
the valley, directly opposite, "The Virgin's Tears Creek" makes a 
fall of one thousand feet. But this fall, unlike the Bridal Veil, is in 
operation only a portion of the year, as the Creek dries up early in 
the season. In volume of water, height of fall, beauty, and grandeur, 
it is far superior to the celebrated " Stanbach " of Switzerland ; and 
yet it is hardly noticed by travellers in the Yosemite Valley because 
there are so many grander ones. Bentley, who has seen the Bridal 
Veil, with its majestic surroundings, at night, says : — 

"Thousands of travellers and tourists make pilgrimage to it each 
year, and yet no pen, brush, camera, nor tongue has ever, nor ever 
can, describe it in all its variety of grandeur and interest, so satisfac- 
torily as it reveals itself to the visitor. Who can paint its dark and 
ever-changing shadows, sweetly nestling under those grim and awe- 
inspiring walls .-* Who can write the sweet, yet dream-like story of 
its cascades, falls, and deep, crystal pools, among those cliffs and 
rock-ribbed, sky-piercing gray giants, or set to music the plaintive 
cadence of the summer wind through those proud pines and firs .'' 
Can you trip to step so fairy as yon meadov; brook delights itself 



88 



.]/ARrj:LS OJ- THE NEW WEST. 



among its bordering grass and trailing sedge, or laugh as it, as bound- 
ing o'er each rocky ledge ? Did ever mirror give back beauty's smile 




YOSEMITE FALLS. 

as that mirror lake, or make grim mountain peak more grim ? Where 
does early morning linger more lovingly, or e\'cning shade more 
grateful seem ? Oh, where does night seem more solemn than in 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 89 

Yosemite ? The roaring cataract, the foamy flutter of the ' Bridal 
Veil,' gleaming like a silver band in the soft moonlight, yon lamps 
of heaven glossed over by fleecy clouds, half secreting, now half dis- 
closing, the tender murmur of balsam-freighted night wind ; gurgling- 
brooklet, and shrill alarm of owl or dove, are of the legion of voices 
in which kind nature salutes you in this valley of the valleys, Yo- 
semite ! " 

Niagara's descent is only one hundred and sixty feet ; that of 
Yosemite is two thousand six hundred and thirty-four. Sixteen 
Niagaras added together only equal the stupendous plunge of Yo- 
semite Falls. It is the grandest waterfall in the whole world, when 
the volume of water which it pours is estimated, l^entley's " Hand- 
book " says : — 

" The Yosemite Fall is produced by a creek of the same name, 
which heads on the west side of the Mount Hoffman Group 
about ten miles northeast of the valley. Being fed by melting snows 
exclusively, and running through its whole course over almost bare 
granite rock, its volume varies greatly at different times and seasons, 
according to^ the amount of snow remaining unmelted, the tempera- 
ture of the air, and the clearness or cloudiness of the weather. In the 
spring, when the snow first begins to melt with rapidity, the volume 
of water is very great ; as ordinarily seen by visitors in the most 
favorable portion of the season — -say from May to July — the quan- 
tity will be less ; still later, it shrinks down to a very much smaller 
volume. The vertical height of the lip of the fall, above the valley, 
is, in round numbers, two thousand six hundred feet. The lip or 
edge of the fall is a great rounded mass of granite, polished to the 
last degree, on which it was found to be a very hazardous matter to 
move. The fall is not in one perpendicular sheet ; there is first a 
vertical descent of one thousand five hundred feet, when the water 
strikes on what seems to be a projecting ledge, but which, in reality, 
is a shelf or recess, almost a third of a mile back from the front of 
the lower portion of the cliff. From here the water finds its way, in 
a series of cascades, down a descent equal to six hundred and twenty- 
five feet perpendicular, and then gives one plunge of about four hun- 
dred feet on to a low talus of rocks at the base of the precipice. 
The whole arrangement and succession of the different parts of the 
fall can be easily understood by ascending to the base of the Upper 
Fall, which is a very interesting and not a difificult climb, or from 
Sentinel Dome, on the opposite side of the valley, where the specta- 
tor is at a considerable distance (two and a half miles) above its edge. 



90 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



As the various portions of the fall are near))- in one vertical plane, 
the effect of the whole is nearly as grand, and perhaps even more 
picturesque, than it would be if the descent were made in one leap 
from the to]) of the cliff to the level of the valley. Nor is the gran- 
deur or beaut)- of the fall perceptibly diminished by even a very con- 
siderable diminution of the quantity of water from its highest stage." 
Bentley says: "The Nevada Fall is, in every respect, one of the 
grandest waterfalls in the world, whether we consider its vertical 
height, the purity and volume of the river which forms it, or the stu- 
pendous scenery by which it is environed. The fall is not quite per- 
pendicular, as there is, near 
the summit, a ledge of 
rock which receives a por- 
tion of the water and 
throws it off with a pe- 
culiar twist, adding con- 
siderably to the general 
picturesque effect. A de- 
termination of the height 
of the fall was not easy, on 
account of the blinding 
spray at the bottom, and 
the uncertainty of the ex- 
act spot where the water 
strikes. Indeed, this seems 
to vary in the Nevada as 
well, although not so much 
as in the Vernal Fall. To 
call the Vernal four hun- 
dred and the Nevada one 
near enough to the truth. 




LIBERTY CAP. 



hundred feet, in round numbers, will be 
The descent of the rixer in the rapids, 
between the two falls, is nearly three hundred feel. Within the val- 
ley are other wonderful falls, other stupendous cliffs, overtopped by 
lofty cloud-capped mountains behind whose rock}- shoulders slumber 
great fields of snow ; while around are the liighest mountain peaks 
within the United States, a vast panorama of mountains, dark-wooded 
valleys and smiling landscapes, everywhere." 

The towering dome seen beyond the brink of the fall is " Liberty 
Cap," in itself an object of surpassing interest in the Yosemite. Its 
summit is two thousand feet higher than the fall, five thousand feet 
above the valley below, and nine thousand above the level of the sea. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



91 



The " Fall " and " Liberty Cap " together create a scene over which 
painter and poet become surcharged with enthusiasm. 

Sentinel Rock is shaped somewhat like an obelisk, its striking 
resemblance to a watch-tower suggesting its name. The obelisk 
form continues down one thousand feet frt^n its summit ; and below 
that point it unites with the wall of the valley. Its height above the 




SENTINEL ROCK. 



river is three thousand and forty-three feet, — one of the most majes- 
tic masses of rock in the Yosemite Valley. 

The illustration locates the Hotel Leidigs on a beautiful spot 
which the towering sentinel overlooks from its lofty altitude. 

Ludlow, in liis "Heart of the Continent," discusses the process of 
formation of these quaint obelisks as follows : — 

" I ascended one of the most practicable hills among the number 



92 MAR\-ELS OF THE XKW WEST. 

crowned by sculpturesque formations. The hill was a mere mass of 
sand and debris from deea)ed rocks, about a hundred feet high, coni- 
cal, and bearing on its summit an irregular group of pillars. After a 
protracted examination, I found the formation to consist of a peculiar 
friable conglomerate, which has no precise parallel in any of the 
eastern strata. Some of the pillars were nearly cylindrical, others 
were long cones, and a number were spindle-shaped, or like a buoy 
set on end. With hardly an exception, they were surmounted by 
capitals of remarkable projection beyond their base. These I found 
slightly different in composition from the shafts. The conglomerate 
of the latter was an irregular mixture of fragments from all the hypo- 
gene rocks of the range, including quartzose pebbles, pure crystals of 
silex, various crytalline sandstones, gneiss, solitary hornblende and 
feldspar, nodular ironstones, rude agates and gun-flint, the whole 
loosely cemented in a matrix composed of clay lime (most likely from 
the decomposition of gypsum) and red oxide of iron. The disk which 
formed the largely projecting capital seemed to represent the origi- 
nal diameter of the pillar, and apparently retained its proportions in 
virtue of a much closer texture and larger per cent of iron in its com- 
position. These were often so apparent that the pillars had a con- 
tour of the most rugged description, and a tinge of pale cream yellow, 
v/hile the capitals were of a brick-dust color, with excess of red oxide, 
and nearly as uniform in their granulation as fine millstone-grit. 
The shape of these formations seemed, therefore, to turn on the com- 
parative resistance to atmospheric influences possessed by their vari- 
ous parts. Many other indications led me to reason down all the 
hypothetical agencies which might have produced them, to a single 
one — air, in its chemical and mechanical operations, and usually 
in both. . . . One characteristic of the Rocky Mountains is the sys- 
tem of vast indentations, cutting through from the top to the bottom 
of the range. Some of these take the form of funnels, others are 
deep, tortuous galleries, known as passes, or canons ; but all have 
their openings towards the plains. The descending masses of air fall 
into these funnels or sinuous canals, as they slide down, concentrat- 
ing themselves and acquiring a vertical motion. When they issue 
from the mouth of the gorge at the base of the range, they are gigan- 
tic augers, with a revolution faster than man's cunningest machinery, 
and a cutting-edge of silex obtained from the first sand-heap caught 
up by their fury. Thus armed with their own resistless motion, and 
an incisive thread of the hardest mineral next to the tliamond. they 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



93 



sweep on over the plains to excavate, pull down, or carve in new 
forms, whatever friable formation lies in their way." 

Ahhoii-Ii the marvels of Yoscmite fill us with wonder, California 
has yet other sights equally novel. Her " Hk, 'J'rkks " must be 
classed with the wonders of the world. A journey from Maine U) 
California to sec them alone is honored witli interest by the sight. 
Trees four hundred and fifty feet high, and forty feet in diameter, 

m u s t be c a t a - 
logued with first- 
class marvels. 
They were dis- 
co\ered in i<S52, 
and, soon after, 
the hollow trunk 
ot one was for- 
warded to New 
Vork City, where 
it was converted 
into a grocery 
store. We fur- 
nish (]). 95) an il- 
lustration of one 
of these giants oi 
the forest. It is 
no great matter 
I hat a stage line 
can find amjjic 
room at the base 
of its trunk, (k'- 
cupying only a 
fractional part of 
its diameter ; for 
the tallest load of hay may be driven through the hollow trunk of 
one of these trees, thirty feet in diameter, if prostrate. 

The "Hotel de Redwood" was originally five hollow trees ; one 
devoted to office and bar-room, another to quarters for the proprie- 
tor's family, and dining-room, and the remainder to lodgings, etc. 

"The New West" contains a very interesting account of these 
trees, from which we make the following extracts: — 

"They were discovered in 1852 and named by I'Indlicher, in honor 
of an Indian chief of the Cherokees. They are limited in range, 




SECTION OF A 



94 A/.4/Cr/i'LS OF THE Xl-.W WIST. 

being confined to CalitoiMiia, and grow entirely in groups. Of these 
groups there are eigiU, or nine if the Mariposa be considered as two. 
Taking these groups from north to south the Calaveras comes first, 
then the Stanislaus, Crane I-'lat, Mariposa, I'^resno, King's antl 
Keweah rivers, North Vo\\ of the Tule River and South h\)rk of 
Tule River. 

" The Calaveras group is in the county of the same name, near the 
crossing of the Sierras by Silver Mountain Pass. The belt of trees 
is three thousand two hundred h\- seven hundred feet, and in that 
space are ninety-two of the monarchs. The most notable being the 
following : — 

Height. Circumference. 

I'athcr of tlic Forest 435 feet no feet 

Mother of the Forest 321 " 90 " 

Hercules 320 " 95 " 

Hermit 31S " 60 " 

Pride of the Forest 276 " 60 " 

Three Graces 295 " 92 " 

Husband and Wife 252 " 60 " 

Burnt Tree 330 fTg. 97 " 

Old Maid 

Old Bachelor ... 

Siamese Twins ... ... 

Mother antl Sons ... ... 

Two ("luardians ... ... 

" Here under the shade is one of California'.s- pet retreats. There 
is one fallen monster, which must have stood four hundred and fifty 
feet in the air and hatl a diameter of forty feet. Another engaged 
the efforts of five men for twentv-five days in cutting, and on the 
level surface of the stmnji thirt\'-two dancers find ample room. Old 
Goliah shows the marks of a tire, that, accortiing to sinrounding trees 
untouched, must ha\e ragetl a thousanil vears ago. 

" The diameter of the largest is thirty-three I'eet ; the circumference 
of the largest, ti\ e feet above the ground. sixt\-one feet. This is the 
onlv one more than si.xty feet in circumference. 

"The Stanislaus group, five miles distant, contains sexen or eight 
hundred trees nearly as remarkable. Crane Flat has those boasting 
a diameter of twenty-three feet, and circumference of fifty-seven feet. 
The Mariposa groii|), whicli generalh- dixides honors with Calaveras, 
is situated si.xteen miles south of the Lower Motel in \'osemite. A 
trip to Yosemite is incomplete unless it includes a \'isit to both of 
them. 



MARVELS OF N A TURK 



95 




" The same wise 
f o r e s i g h t w h i c h ^M\-e 
Yo Semite to the 
State, f,^ave Mari- 
ix)sa t(j be held in 
periK'tuity. The 

grant is two miles 
square. It has been 
improx'ed and made 
of easy access. The 
Tiile River Groups 
were the last discov- 
ered, being found in 
1867. While Cala- 
\-eras and Marii)osa 
lead in point of be- 
ing kncjwn, the 
others are worthy 
any reasfjnable ex- 
penditure of time 
and money. 

"Gazing on a 
mountain there 
comes no thought 
that it has been a 
witness to the pass- 
ing events of the 
ages. But these 
trees have shaded 
races dead for hun- 
dreds of years. They 
live, and seem al- 
mf)st possessed of 
m i n d s ; and when 
those who now rest 
under their branch- 
es are dust, they will 
•still live, and future generations may conjecture who has seen them 
in ages gone. They sprouted before the Christian era dawned, and 
unconcerned they grew, while nations rose and fell. Who knows 
what may transpire till when the earth shall tremble to their crash- 



.Ta&E l ne 



96 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



ing fall ? Or how k)ng shall their Hutcd C'orinthiai. columns sway 
grandly to the winds of the Pacific ? " 

That a pioneer should set up housekeeping in the hollow trunk of 
one of these big trees is not at all strange, for he has an ample tene- 
ment there without the trouble of lathing and j^Iastering. A hollow 
tree, from thirty to forty feet in diameter, ma\- be partitioned into 
seyeral comfortable rooms — space enough for quite a numerous 
family. 

We conclude our remarks upon these giants of the forest by an 
extract from the pen of one 
who has sat beneath their 
shadows : — 

"Wild calculations haye 
been made of the ages of 
the larger of these trees ; 
but one of the oldest in the 
Calayeras Grove being cut 
down and the rings of the 
wood counted, its age proved 
to be one thousand three 
hundred years ; and proba- 
bly none now upon the 
ground date back farther 
than the Christian era. 
They began with our mod- 
ern civilization ; they were 
just sprouting when the Stai- 
of Bethlehem rose and stood 
for a sign of its origin ; they 
have been ripening in beau- 
ty and power through these 
nineteen centuries; and 

the\- stand forth now, a type of the majesty and grace of Ilini with 
whose life they arc coeval. Certainly they are chief among the nat- 
ural curiosities and marvels of Western America, of the known 
world ; and though not to be compared, in the impressions they niLd<c 
and the emotions they arouse, to the great rock scenery of the \'o- 
semite, which inevitabh' carries the sjiectator up to the Infinite Crea- 
tor and Father of all, they do stanil for all that has been claimed for 
them in wonderful greatness and majestic beauty." 

" Trees of God ! " remarked a luu-ojK'an tourist. 




PIONEER CABIN. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



97 



Professor Whitney presents the following table of measurements 
of height and circumference of a number of the trees in the Mariposa 
Grove : — 



No. 


Height. 


ClKCMMFERENCE 

AT Ground. 


ClKCl-MEEKENCE 

Six Feet 
Above Ground. 


Kkmakks. 


12 


244 


62. 




Very fine symmetrical tree. 


'5 


272 






Fine, sound tree. 


i6 




86.5 




Thirty-one feet in diameter; 
hollow. 


20 




72-5 


55- 


Fine tree. 


21 






44. 


Very fine tree; not swollen at 
base. 


27 


250 


48. 






29 




89.8 






31 


186 


35-7 


29.6 


Very straif,'ht and symmetrical. 


35 




65- 


50.8 




38 


226 


27. 






49 


194 








51 


218 


56. 


39- 


Very fine tree. 


52 


249 


... 


40. 


I'ine tree. 


60 




81.6 


59. 


Very fine tree, but burned at 
base. 


64 




82.4 


50- 


N'ery fine tree. 


66 


221 


39-8 






69 


219 


35-7 






70 


225 


43-9 






77 


197 




27.8 




102 


225 




50. 


Very fine tree. 


.58 


223 








164 


243 




27.6 




.6y 




79.6 




Much burned at l)ase. 


171 




82.7 




Madly burnetl on one side. 


"74 


268 




40.8 




'94 


192 




46. 


Two trees united at base. 


205 


229 


87.8 




Much burned on one side; for- 
merly over one hundred feet 
in circumference. 


206 


235 


70.4 






216 






63.2 


Very large tree; much burned 
at base. 


226 


219 




48. 


I'ine tree. 


236 


256 




46. 




238 






57- 


Twenty-six feet in diameter; 
burned on one side. 


239 


187 




26.6 




245 


270 


81.6 


67.2 


Burned on one side. 



98 



M ARTELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



No. 


Height. 


Circumference 
AT Ground. 


Circumference 

Six Feet 
Above Ground. 


Remarks. 


253 




74-3 


60. 




262 




56. 




Half burned at liasc. 


275 




68. 






286 




76. 




Burned on one side nearly to 
centre. 


290 




... 


46. 




301 






SI- 




304 


260 


93-7 




Largest tree in the grove; 
twenty-seven feet in diame- 
ter, but all burned away on 
one side. 


330 




91.6 




Splendid tree; over one hun- 
dred feet in circumference 
originally, but much burned 
at base. 


348 


227 




SI- 





TH1<: (iARDEN OF THE GODS. 

" Have you been to the Garden of the Gods .'' " This is a stereo- 
typed question in Colorado. The "Garden" occupies a place so 
prominent in the public estimation, that a visit to it must not be long 
delayed. He who fails to see it might as well fail to see the New 
West, many would say. It surely is a place of transcendent interest ; 
and is one of the mar\-els that will live long in the menior}-. 

The " Garden " is five miles from Colorado Springs, and about 
seventy-five miles from Deliver. It is reached from the springs by 
what is known as Mesa road. For a mile or more the road ascends 
the high tableland, when for three miles it crosses the almost lexel 
summit, from which the "Beautiful Gate" of the "Garden" is seen, 
and then descends ten or fifteen hundred feet into Camp Creek Val- 
ley. One mile further, along a lovely stream, and the tourist finds 
himself in front of the gate. 

It is not a gate of human workmanship. There is an air of the 
artificial about it, because the massive portals seem to have been 
carved ;.but the workmanship is all divine. The plan, too, is divine. 
The pillars of the gate, on either side, composed of red sandstone, 
are three hundred and eighty feet high, — too high for any one but 
the Great Architect tt) think of rearing. A beholder adds, without 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



99 



the least extravagance, " There is another parapet of white stone, 
and inner columns of various colors, which might well be the ruins 
of a vast heathen temple, or the shrine of the long-buried gods. The 
impression produced b}' the ' Garden of the Gods ' varies greatly 
with the time of day and the climatic conditions under which it is 
seen. Immediately after rain its hues are deeper, and it becomes so 
vividly red that an exact representation of it would be scouted at once 
as a distorted vision of the painter. In the soft light of evening a 
sagy green of exquisite delicacy suffuses itself over the vegetation 
from which the rocks in all directions rise ; while the last ra\s of 




GATEWAY TO THE GARDEN OF THE GODS. 



the departing sun cause the enormous tablets of stone to flash out 
with surpassing grandeur. As a rule, to see the garden to the best 
effect it should be approached from Colorado Sj^rings in the morning 
and from Manitou at eventime. If possible, it should be \isited at 
both times, and also by moonlight, when the colors die avvav, and 
strange and almost unearthly forms take their place." 

Entering the pc^-tals, with Pike's Peak looming up in front, and 
objects of the strangest and most fantastic forms appearing on e\ery 
hand, the thoughtful visitor is disposed to uncover his head as if in 
the ]:)resence of the Wise Builder of this natural amphitheatre. 

" See there ! " said our guide, pointing to a towering rock three 
or four hundred feet high, "the bear and seal; the bear taking his 



lOO 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



ease, and the seal crawlinj; up to keep him company." And, sure 
enough, there was the menagerie on exhibition far above us, the two 
aforesaid animals, in stone, appearing to be as perfect in form as if 
carved by human hands. 

"And there is one of our 'boys in blue,'" continued our guide, 
pointing in another direction. "See that soldier yonder .^" It re- 
quired no aid of the imagination to discover the soldier in a sitting 
posture, as far up towards the sky as the seal and bear. Further 
on, seeing a hideous-looking creature in rock, we asked : " That 

monster yonder, — 

what do you call him } " 
The image was nearly 
as big as Jumbo, sitting 
upon his haunches, mi- 
nus fore paws, but pos- 
sessing a mammoth 
mouth, wide open, as if 
to gulp down the pas- 
ser-by, and the large 
eyes staring at us in hot 
anger. " There is no 
name for that, so far as 
I know." u'as the an- 
swer. "Then call it 
A^o Name," we replied ; 
"that would be appro- 
priate. It is said that 
tourists have given 
names to all these ob- 
jects which are named, so we will dubb this nameless creature. No 
Namk." We had scarcely ceased discussing this last strange un- 
couth object, when it was announced, "Here comes grandmother," 
Turning to the right, we beheld a good imitation oi an old woman, not 
wearing a particularly pleasant countenance, nor apparelled exactly 
according to the fashion of the times, but, nevertheless, about as 
good an imitation of an Indian grandmother, with a pap])oose on her 
back, as the average sculptor can carve in stone. 

We may add here a paragraj^h from Dr. Mary I''.. Hlake, who 
described her feelings after entering "within the gate." "The 
impression is of something mighty, unreal, and supernatural. Of the 
gods surely — but the gods of the Norse Walhalla in some of their 




BEAR AND bEAL, 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



strange outbursts o^ wild rage or uncouth playfulness. The beauty- 
loving divinities of Greece and Rome could have nothing in common 
with such sublime awkwardness. Jove's ambrosial curls must shake 
in another Olympia than this. Weird and grotesque, but solemn and 
awful at the same time, as if one stood on the confines of another 
world and soon the veil would be rent which divided them. Words 
are worse than useless to describe such a picture. Perhaps if one 
could live in the shadow of its savage grandeur for months, until his 
soul were permeated, language would begin to find itself flowing in 

proper channels, but in 
the first stupor of aston- 
ishment one must only 
hold his breath." 

Says another (H. H.) 
of the general appear- 
ance of things in this 
weird place : — 

" You wind among 
rocks of every conceiv- 
able and inc(Miceivable 
shape and size, from 
pebbles up to gigantic 
bowlders, fro m q u e e r, 
grotesque little mon- 
strosities, looking like 
-cals, fishes, cats, or 
masks, up to colossal 
monstrosities, looking 
like elephants, like huge 
gargoyles, like giants, like sphinxes eighty feet high, all bright red, 
all motionless and silent, with a strange look of having been just 
stopped and held back in the very clima.x of some supernatural catas- 
trophe. The stillness, the absence of |iving things, the preponder- 
ance of grotesque shapes, the expression of arrested action, give to 
the whole place, in spite of its glory of coloring, spite of the grandeur 
of its vistas ending in snow-covered peaks only six miles away, spite 
of its friendly and familiar cedars and pines, spite of an occasional 
fragrance of clematis, or smile of a daisy, or twitter of a sparrow, — 
spite of all these, a certain uncanniness of atmosphere, which is at 
first oppressive. I doubt if one ever loved the Garden of the Gods 
at first sight. One must feel his way to its beauty and rareness, 




-.^r 



THE GRANDMOTHER. 



102 



MAKl-JCLS OF THE NEW WEST. 



must learn it like a new ]anguai;"e ; even if one lias known nature's 
tongues well, he will be a heli)less foreigner here." 

We quote again from Dr. Blake : - 

" Strange, grotest[ue shapes, mannnoth earicatures of animals, 
clamber, or crouch, or spring, from \antage points hundreds of leet 
in air. Here a battlemented wall is piercetl bv a round wimlow ; 
there a cluster of slender spires lift thenisehes ; beyond, a leaning 
tower slants through the blue air, or a cube as large as a dwelling- 
house is balanced on a pi\-ot-like point at the base, as if a child's 
strength could upset it. ' Hut nothing short of an earthquake could 
fetch it,' says the 'Doc," our driver, a tine specimen of the western 
type, keen, cool and ruddy. 
Imagine all this scintillant 
with color, set under a daz- 
zling sapphire dome, with the 
silver stems and delicate 
frondage of vt>ung cotton- 
woods in one space, a strong 
young hemlock lifting green 
symmetrical arms from some 
high rocky cleft in another, 
or a miniature forest ot 
dwarfed evergreens climbing- 
half way up some craggy ]Mle. 
This can be told, but the 
massivcness of sky-piled ma- ^i.** 
sonry, the almost infernal v 
mixture of grandeur and gro 
tesqueness, are beyond ex- 
pression. After the first few uk 
one sinks into an awed silence." 

Dr. Blake referred to a rock on a pi\ot, jM-obabh- meaning " Bal- 
ance Rock," as seen in the cut. It is a huge affair, and \ct appears 
to be so delicately balanced that a child might rock it. Ow trial, 
however, it is found to be immovable — a \-cry ponderous thing, 
defying all attempts to move it. (Juite an exact profile of "the 
human face divine " is seen o\\ one side of this rock — eyes, nose, and 
mouth very properly adjusted, while the chin is elongated into almost 
too much of a good thing. The toji of the head does not exactly 
tally with the chart of the phrenologist, but it is cpiite in harmony 
with the oddities and tpieer objects scattereil about. 




unents of wiUl exclamation points 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 103 

Dr. 1^. V. Taylor e.\i)rc.ssc(l himself very <j,raphica]ly over the 
strani^'e and fantastic objects in this <;arclen, us follows : — 

" Here is a park oi five hundred acres of land, mountain-locked on 
the north and west, moated with canons on the south, and walled 
with red sandstone on the east, spread with grassy car])ets here and 
there, and dotted with little pines and otlfer vej^etable stragglers. 
You approach a gateway two hundred feet wide, with red sandstone 
towers over three hundred feet high, covered with sculptures that no 
man can read, and massive and rugged as are no other jjortals in the 
world. 

"In the centre of the way is a red pillar twenty-five feet high, 
which was jjrobably the horse-block whence the Titonesses stepped to 
the jiillions behind their lords and masters when they went their 
morning rides. You can see the walled-uj) windows whence the old 
warders looked forth. You can see escutcheons th3,t no herald can 
make out ; chimneys standing alone ; towers dismantled ; alcoves, 
broken arches, pinnacles, castle ruins, and all red as porphyry. And 
a little way off you see parallel walls that are marble white, and sh(nv 
in fine contrast with the cinnabar tints ai'ound. 

" Not long ago I saw photographs of the ruins of lia'albek, and I 
said, A greater than Ha'albek is here ; these 'J'itanic castles and for- 
tresses wrecked and ruined, and greater in their destruction than the 
comjjlete architecture of the Wrens and Walters of modern times. 
Anybody can rear castles from foundation to turret, but only one 
architect can build ruins so grand, and his name is Upheaval. 

"Think (^f a multitude of stone toad-stools, six, ten, twelve feet in 
diameter; of Chinamen's hats done in pink, yellow, red, with mossy 
rosettes ; of awkward sun-bonnets weighing two tons apiece, always 
slipping off and never falling ; of stone bowls, big as cauldron kettles, 
bottom side upon j^illars ; of ogreish heads wrai)ped about with gray 
turbans ; of loaves of overdone bread, two hundred ])ounds apiece, 
set upon the rocks to cool ; of a crop of ca]:)ped and hooded gateposts 
waiting to be harvested ; of petrified dumb-bells such as Ju])iter 
might have practised with before throwing his thunderbolts ; of a 
flock of witches in red tatters squatting around in dumb petrifaction ; 
of masses of rock as big as a house poised upon stcjnes the size of a 
pumpkin ; of whole families of Leaning Towers — no end of Pisas — 
accenting everything in a manner more emphatic than delightful ; 
think of all these at once, and you will know something of this sand- 
stone nightmare." 



104 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



Here is a natural curiosity — a hole in the rock. throu^i:;h which 
a good view of Pike's Peak may be enjoyed. Dr. Blake calls it 
"a window in a rock." It furnishes an interesting study for geologi- 
cal explorers, as well as amusement for speculating tourists. Differ- 
ing as it does from the other marvels of the garden discussed, it 
shows that the collection which nature has made in this locality for 
the entertainment of astonished travellers has a wide range. 

We have spoken of the action of water in forming such stone mar- 
vels as we have de- 
scribed. Prof. J. 
T. Edwards, speak- 
ing of "water as an 
architect," says : — 

" In the divine 
hand water has 
been used as the 
material with 
which to shape the 
earth, even as a 
workman employs 
his files, emery, and 
diamond dust to 
shape the objects 
upon which he la- 
bors. At first the 
earth was charac- 
terized by o n e 
dead level — a 
wide, desolate, fire- 
scarred plain ; then 
the mountains 
were upheaved, the 

depths were broken up, and, no longer resting in their quiet beds, 
everywhere rolled down the slopes, and by mere attrition, wore away 
the firm rocks and bore the material into tlic plains below ; all valleys 
have thus been made. Some are still in process of formation. Far 
out in the Gulf of Mexico, and in the Indian Ocean, the Mississippi 
and the Ganges are pouring their sediment and building future con- 
tinents. Sometimes, where the volume of water was great, or the 
mountains steep, mighty gorges were carved out, like the river-bed 
below Niagara, the tremendous cuts of the Congo, or the awful 




WINDOW IN A ROCK. 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



105 



canons of the Colorado, some of which are five thousand feet in 
depth. Ceaseless waves beat upon the shore, powdered the rocks, 
and made the soft beaches ; tides ebbed and flowed, and slowly 
wrought their changes. In addition to the zocariug- action of the 
water, which arises from the smoothness of its molecules, and the 




CATHEDRAL bPlREb. 



slight cohesion of its particles, thereby causing ceaseless motion, it 
possesses a wonderful solv-ent power. Solution arises from the fact 
that the adhesion between a liquid and a solid is greater than the 
cohesion between the molecules of the solid ; whenever this is the 
case, the latter will be dissolved. If water is heated, this action will 
be intensified ; such was its condition in the early geologic ages, and 
this explains the extraordinary rapidity with which rocks were then 



106 MAKl'ELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

dissolved. Beautiful grottoes were formed like that of Antiparos, 
vast caverns, such as those along the coasts of Scotland, the Mam- 
moth Cave of Kentucky, and the Wyandotte of Indiana. It is a 
curious paradox which apjK'ars in this story of world-building, that 
the New World was really the oldest in process of formation, and 
that the tallest mountains were the latest upheaved." 

"Cathedral SiMres." like the cut oj^jiosite, are found, not only in 
the Garden of the (iods, hut throughout this locality. They re- 
semble the spires of churches ; hence the name. 

A few only of the many remarkable and curious things to be seen 
in the Garden of the Gods can be furnished in our limited space. 
Enough, however, are furnished to show that, all in all, the place 
was rightly named. From the point of entrance to that of exit, the 
tourist finds it difficult to dispel the thought that human ingenuity 
has gotten up this remarkable exhibition of statuary and architec- 
ture for the delight of trax'ellers. But then he reflects quickly that 
DiviNK ingenuity will beat the human every time ; and h.c finds that 
every word of Colorado's reliable historian, I'^-ank l^'ossett, is strictly 
verified : — 

"The Garden of the Gods, so named from the grotesque and 
gigantic rocks of red and white sandstone thrown into all manner of 
fantastic shapes, and worn by the elements, constitutes one of the 
State's greatest natural wonders. These rocks are scattered in pic- 
turesque confusion from the enormous j^ortal of the enclosure to the 
lofty crags that rise on either hand. Some of these giant pillars and 
cathedral-shaped towers are hundreds of feet in height, and altogether 
form a scene at once weird and enchanting." 

MONUMENT PARK. 

" Monument Park," so-called, in its location and general features, 
belongs to the class of wonders under consideration. It is situated 
a few miles to the north of the Garden of the (iods, and is annually 
visited by thousands of sight-seers. While it is not invested with the 
interest and singularities which have made the latter place so re- 
nowned, it nevertheless has much in conmion with that museum of 
marvels, as the se\eral illustrations wo furnish ahundanth' pro\-e. 

These monuments are from five or six feet to a hundretl feet in 
height, and are numerous. A geologist says : — 

" They belong to the cretaceous group of rocks. They consist of 
columns of soft, white chalk conglomerate, capped with a hard ferru- 



MAR I' ELS OF NATURE. I07 

ginous ore. The action of the elements for tlie countless ages of the 
past has carved out these monuments, towers, and ruins for the won- 
ders of the present day." 

This writer claims that there are " no greater geological wonders 
and curiosities on the continent " than Monument Park contains. 




This park is more distinguished for monumental piles than for gro- 
tesque figures. Speaking of the latter recalls an amusing incident 
that might be narrated here as well as any place. A tourist was 
stopjMng at a hotel in Colorado Springs, and one day he visited 
Austin's Bluff, a few miles distant. Near that place he discovered 
a rock-rooster, as perfect, he thought, as a sculj^tor could make ; and 



io8 



MARI-EIS OF THE NEW WEST. 



he bore it away in triumph, congratulating himself upon his fortunate 
discovery. On reaching the hotel, and exhibiting his trophy, he was 
rather dumbfounded by the bit of information, — 

"Whv, that is private property. The owner set it up by the way- 
side for the entertainment of tra\'ellers." 

" Is that so ! " exclaimed the tourist. " Then I must carry it back." 

" Of course you must. Mr. Austin's gardener put the roos- 
ter on exhibition there. No wonder that you were surprised 
to find so good an imitation of a rooster in stone up there." 

The tourist made 

haste to restore the 
silent rooster to his 
place on the rocks ; 
but thereafter he 
was often humor- 
ously reminded of 
his stone trophy. 
The traveller just 
quoted says : — 

"Twelve miles 
northward of Colo- 
rado Springs is a 
group of beautiful 
small valleys known 
as Monument Park, 
from the great num- 
ber of these strange 
sandstone rocks. It 
is the liveliest of all 
lonely places. You 
drive over a grassy 
road in the middle 
of a narrow green 
sides of a trough, 
at the base of hii 




GROUP OF MONUMENTS. 



ike 


the 


bru 


]itly 


l^ines, 



meadow, the sides of wliich slope up 
the narrow strip of meatlow ending 
_^h yellow sandstone cliffs, covered with 
firs, and low oak shrubs. There are frequent breaks in these cliffs, 
and passes through them ; and so crowded are these passes and cliff- 
sides with the yellow stone columns, tliat it is not at all hard to fancy 
that they are figures winding in and out in a procession, mounting 
guard, lying down, sunning themselves, leading or embracing each 
other. Perverse people, with fancies of a realistic order, have given 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



109 



names to many of these figures and groups: 'The Anvil,' 'The 
Quaker Wedding,' 'Dunces' Parliament,' 'Priest and Nun,' 'The 
Duchess,' etc., etc. Photographers, still more perverse, have per- 
sisted in photographing single rocks, or isolated groups, with nei- 
ther background nor foreground. These are to be seen everywhere, 
labelled, ' Rocks in Monument Park,' and are admirably calculated 
to repel people from going to what would be some bare, outlying pin- 
nacle of the universe, on which imps had played at making clay fig- 
ures, with high stakes for the ugliest. A true picture of Monument 
Park would give a background of soft yellow and white sandstone 
cliffs, rounded, fluted, and grooved, with waving pines thick on the 
top, and scattering down the sides, and the statue-like rocks half in 
and half out among the trees ; and to make the picture perfect, it 
should be given looking west, so that the green valley, with its fan- 
tastic yellow side walls and statues should be shut across at the fur- 
ther end by a high mountain range, dark blue against a shining sky." 

This monument stands 
alone in the midst of trees 
and shrubs, between which 
there exists a seeming com- 
panionship. It is larger at 
the top than it is at the 
base, and its whole appear- 
ance is suggestive of a sen- 
tinel ; not like the sentinel 
who paces over his beat, 
back and forth, in monoto- 
nous measure, but rather 
like the Roman sentinel 
who stood at the gate of 
his city, where he was found 
a thousand years after the 
eruption of Vesuvius had 
buried its inhabitants under 
molten lava, his skeleton 
hand still grasping the gold- 
en hilt of his sword, and his attitude and appearance indicating the 
faithful sentinel. So stands this rock. Thus it has stood, no one 
but God can tell how long. 

Perhaps there is no sample of natural statuary in all this region 
more remarkable than what some have been pleased to call "The 




THE SENTINEL. 



no 



MARVELS OF THE NEW UEST. 



Duchess." Royal as well as delicate in appearance, it is certainly a mar- 
vel of the highest class, inviting not only admiration but study as well. 
The reader must admit that no traveller quoted has been extrava- 
gant in his description of the Garden of the Gods and Monument 
Park. The illustrations furnished are quite sufficient to show that 
nature has provided very remarkable collections ( f natural objects in 
these localities. If any of the writers have allowed the imagination 
to give peculiar coloring to their descriptions, it has been only the 
inspiration of the place and 
occasion. He must possess 
an exceeding sluggish soul 
who could mingle in such 
scenes without becoming- 
enthusiastic. If accustomed 
to make pen-pictures, he 
must be moved to make 
them in these noted resorts 
if ever. To be silent before 
this panorama of marvels, 
and allow the pen to mope 
or plod where nature eclip- 
ses art, and a thousand voi- 
ces swell the praises of 
Him who gives tact and tal- 
ent to both painter and 
sculptor, would be unnatu- 
ral and irreverent. The ap- 
peal is to all the powers of 

the soul ; and though all of them be enlisted to describe the scenes 
enumerated, exaggeration is impossible. 




THE DUCHESS. 



MIS('KLL.AN?:OUS. 

Shoshone Falls are on Snake River, in the Territory of Idaho. 
They are grand to the last degree. I^xaggeration is impossible here. 
No writer can really do them ju.stice. The granite walls, back of the 
roaring falls, rise like palaces, mosques, or magnificent fortifications. 
A writer who visited this famous waterfall furnishes a graj^hic de- 
scription, from which we extract the following : — 

" It was only a few rods of easy walking, when, i)iercing a border 
of fir, a rest was taken on Point Lookout. Just then the sun broke 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



Ill 




112 MARVELS OF THE NEIT WEST. 

forth in renewed radiance, and from cliff to cliff there spran-; a bow 
as perfect as ever was glorious in the heavens, — an arc of beauteous 
coloring against a background of glittering, bead-like foam, tumbling in 
crystal chaos two hundred and twenty feet. The circling halo lost its 
bases in the tumult and the mist, but its crescent was unbroken above. 
" Niagara is different, but is not superior. Where that is calm, 
Shoshone is tempestuous. Where that pours over evenly, Shoshone 
bursts into a million wild jets, each with a diamond's lustre. Where 
that is environed by commonplace landscape, Shoshone dashes from 
between rocks, stately and time-stained, and nearly a thousand feet 
high. From Point Lookout the view is unobstructed, not only of 




bAN PEDRO'S WIFE; OR, THE WOMAN 0(- THE PERIOD 



the falls, but farther back, where the boat has often crossed. Seven 
distinct channels are to be seen, forming a number of preliminary 
falls, before, finally there is a grand reunion of the waters : and so 
united, over they go to be lost in the rage of a terrible surge, to riot 
in an infuriate whirlpool, and to rise soft as the feather of a bird, and 
be touched by the sun to splendor, and fall like a blessing of nature 
on the brow of the awed beholder. . . . 

"Think of seven hundred and fifty feet front of a maddened — it 
almost seems malignant — torrent, devilish in the tlclight it takes in 
sweeping with a rush nothing but the eternal rocks could withstand; 
torn and tossed into billions of sparkling thread.s, with a constant 
play of prismatic hues, changing (.(uickcr than thought, half envel- 



MAJi I -ELS OF N. 1 1 URE. I 1 3 

oped in its own mist, and then the wind carrying that away, leav- 
ing it unobscured in sublimity, unmatched and indescribable. Long 
the eye drinks here of the vials of wonder ; and after the sight 
has become a memory, still the voice of the Great Unknown will 
seem to break in again upon the soul, just as it does when the uproar 
is deafening, and, by its very presence, turns one tow^ards better and 
stronger things." 

"San Pedro's Wife ; or. The Woman of the Period," is a nat- 
ural statue, and is situated near San Pedro Point, about three 
hundred miles from San Francisco. It is a remarkable object, and the 
name with which it has been christened is quite appropriate. Were 
a light to be set on the head of this stone woman, it would become 
the most unique and fantastic lighthouse ever known. It seems like 
a hint, in itself, to our enterprising race, to complete the work of na- 
ture by adding an uplifted arm, holding a flaming torch in the hand, 
that its flashing light may prove a benediction to unwary steps or 
belated vessels. From head to feet this singular rock-formation 
reflects much credit upon the elements which have done so excellent 
carving. 

" Donner Lake," as shown on the following page, is situated on 
the summit of Sierra Nevada Mountains, eight or ten thousand feet 
above the level of the sea. It is a wonderfully clear and beautiful 
sheet of water, very deep and still, and is called, "The Gem of the 
Sierras." Located on a mountain-summit is sufficient of itself to 
invest the lake with novelty and romance. Such a phenomenon is 
confined to the Rocky Mountains, and is therefore rare. 

The name of the lake, however, is derived from an appalling 
calamity which occurred upon its borders in 1846. A family by the 
name of Donner was crossing the Sierras when the first snow-storm 
of winter burst upon them. The family consisted of Mr. and Mrs. 
Donner and four children, with several servants, who assisted to drive 
a small herd of cattle. They had reached the lake, and. had camped 
for the night, when a wild storm, such as that mountain region alone 
knows, struck them in its fury. On the following morning two feet 
of snow covered the trail, and the unabated storm continued to add 
rapidly to its depth. Mr. Donner was too unwell to go forward, but 
he put the children upon the horses, and started them off under the 
care of servants, hoping they might cross the mountains in safety. 
Mr. Donner's wife and a German servant remained with him. Most of 
the cattle stampeded during the night, terrified by the howling storm. 

To make a long and appalling story short, it must suffice to say 



114 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



that che storm continued fifteen or twenty days, until thirty feet of 
snow covered the vast wilderness. The children, however, under the 



i 




guide and protection of the brave servants, succeeded in crossing the 
mountains after hardships and much suffering, and reached comforta- 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



115 



ble quarters. But a searching party did not dare to penetrate to the 
lake until spring returned ; and when they reached the rudely con- 
structed cabin, a terrible sight met them. Mr. Donner and his wife 
were dead, and the German, now a raving maniac, sat before the fire 
devouring a wasted 
human arm. He was 
seized, and, after a 
fearful struggle, was 
secured ; and he final- 
ly recovered to tell 
the story of that win- 
ter's sufferings, al- 
most without a paral- 
lel in history. 

The Multnomah 
Falls is one of the 
marvels that delight 
the traveller after 
leaving Bonneville. 
Its water plunges 
down eight hundred 
feet, the same dis- 
tance as the Oneonta 
Falls in the same vi- 
cinity. The Multno- 
mah water strikes a 
ledge about two- 
thirds of the distance 
down, then, gather- 
ing itself up, it makes 
another plunge into 
the abyss below. 

Scarcely any scene 
could be more novel 
and beautiful than 
this. In the distance 

the falling sheet of water appears like a 
ling in the sun. 

The Pillars of Hercules are found on the Columbia River, a few 
miles from IVIultnomah Falls — another of the many marvels on the 
northern route to the Pacific slope. They are colossal, and the 




MULTNOMAH FALLS, 



wide silver ribbon spark- 



MARVELS OF THE .VEJi' WEST. 




PILLARS OF HERCULES. 



Northern Pacific Railroad passes directly between them. These pil- 
lars awaken the wonder of men. A writer says : — 

" 1 low (iod's hand Iniilt them, — not in a manner of slow-mounting 
masonry, gaining adventurously and toilsomely, foot by foot, and 
jnishing its scaffolding ever higher to keep command of the work, 
and straining its energy to raising aloft the chiselled and ponderous 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



17 




Il8 MARl-J'XS 0J-' THE NE]V WEST. 

blocks to their place, — but with one lift, without break or course, or 
any i;Tadations ot rising' completeness, the Supreme Builder set the 
domed mountains in their place — foundation, wall, and top stone — 
one sublime integral whole, unprofaned by craftsman's tools, untrod 
by foot of man." 

Pyramid Park is on the line of the Northern Pacific Railway, and 
its name is derived from the interesting rock formations therein. 
Professor Denton says : " Such a valley containing myriads of mounds, 
buttes, pyramids, pinnacles, forts, and turrets. Here are canons, 
ravines, gulches, and perpendicular preci]Mces ; pyramitls with brown 
and blue bases, and vermilion tops ; towers with unscalable walls that 
defy the earth-ransacking geologist — mounds of all sizes from ant 
hills to respectable mountains ; mounds single, twin, trij')le, and mul- 
tiple ; mounds with yellow bases, white girdles, and blood-red caps ; 
mounds green, drab, white, blue, red, and mottled ; truncated mounds 
with mounds on them ; mounds beyond mounds like ocean waves lost 
in distance ; but interspersed w^ith all these are beautiful slopes many 
acres in extent, green as emerald, and lovely spots covered with 
fragrant ground juniper, fit carpet for a queen." Another says : — 

" It is in Pyramid Park that the most fantastic shapes appear. 
Every form of man or beast the broad empire of Rome could furnish, 
is here carved by the elements and placed in one long gallery of art. 
Monuments, cathedrals, pyramids, cones, and houses appear like 
excavations of a buried city. ... As the train rolls swiftly through 
the park, we give our imagination full play, and find shapes the most 
grotesque and ludicrous, combined with others of imposing form, 
presenting a combination of which we ne\er tire." 

On the left of the illustration is a mammoth rock rising two or 
three hundred feet, presenting the appearance of a large cathedral. 
The resemblance is so striking that it is called "The Cathedral." 
On a line with the Cathedral to the right are " Monument Rocks " of 
various heights. Below is a rock formation which a tourist has very 
l^roperly named " The Hag." It is worthy of the name, as the reader 
will find by a little study. At the left is "Watch Dog Butte," a 
lofty eminence on \Vhich nature has perched what appears to be a 
real terrier. 

The illustration on tlie following page is that of a remarkable butte 
overlooking Green River City. It is built up of solid masonry, such 
as nature provides, and is surrounded by a massive monumental pile, 
resembling a public edifice of some sort. In its jiroportions, as well 
as its plan, it is unique and im|>osing. It stands sentinel over the 



MARVliLS OF NATURE. 



19 




little city which nestles under its shadow, between its base and the 
river. Altogether, this butte and its surroundings presents a scene 
which, in some particulars, can scarcely be matched in the whole 



120 



M.IK I -ELS OF THE NEW It EST. 



land. The artist could not pass it without stopping to make a faith- 
ful sketch. 




" Wa<;-on Wheel (iap " is located in Southwestern Colorado, on 
the Rio Grande Del Norte, twenty-nine miles west of Del Norte, and 



AfARVKLS OF ALATURE. 




122 



J/.IA'I'A'/.S or THE XEW WEST. 



sixtv-nino troni Aliniosa. It is in a chasm ot the numntain rang-o, 
whicli extoiuls a humlrod miles north and south, a gateway cut by 
rusliing waters sometime in the past centuries, with vertical cliffs 
shooting upwanls from the luiiuhed to fifteen hundred feet. The place 
is called •" Wagon Wheel Gap"' in consequence of decaying wheels 

and other trum]->ei\\- 
found there bv pioneers 
a few \ears since. At 
first, it was supposed 
t h e relics discovered 
were all that remained 
of an exploring party 
massacretl by Indians. 
It was subsequently 
fountl. however, that 
Fremont wintered tliere 
t>nce in his explorations, 
and was obliged to aban- 
don his wagons and most 
of his outfit to save his 
p a r t v from starvation 
and death. 

The illustration on 
the preceding page rep- 
resents the scene that 
opens to the tourist as 
the railway train, wiiich 
follows along the ri\or. 
moves into the gap antl 
up to the station. On 
the right haml, the pali- 
sailes or nunmtains of 
rock rise from twehe 
hundretl ti^ fifteen hun- 
dred feet above the track, continuing their wavy line (^f unsurpassed 
grandeur for several miles. These stupendous walls are of reiklish 
gray sandstone, with only room enough at their base for the river and 
railway. On the left hand of the track, the mountains rise over 
twenty-three hundred feet in solemn majesty above the track. The 
whole scene is one of unparalleleil majesty. The beholder alone 
can fullv appreciate it. 







RHODA S ARCH. 
Savvatch Range, South River, near Antelopo Park. 



mari-j-:ls (jjr NATURj-:. J 23 

Castcllatcrl Rocks rise several hu.Hln.l feet alon^^ the hanks of 
the river, and extend for miles. They present one of the grand- 
est spectacles which th.- tr.urist enjoys in the New West 'I'hev 
are called "The Green River Shales," and their prevailin-/ color is 
a grayish huff. (;ther colors, as red, green, and white, nnnHe here 
and there, contrihuting heauty to the imposing scene. Like huge 
walls of granite, laid hlock upon hlock in symmetrical proportions 
until they tower higher than the tallest church .sj.ire in the land 
these castellated rocks challenge the surprise and wonrler of m<n ' 
Rhodas Arch is symmetrical and finished as if planned and 

wrought hv hnmrin skill Jf .. ,.,,rrr„nui;,v-- -, , , , r 1 ■ 

'"""'niMin^' ,, IP- i-.-r i!;i,,,]y impressive. 




Stone monuments stand around, some tall and capped, others rising 
m sharp pinnacles -all .seeming to belong to the .same class of 
wonders as the arch itself. It is a rare spectacle, one of the novel 
scenes that will live in memory. 

There- is no greater marvel in Washington Territory than the 
Grand Coulee represented above. It has been called a "deep crack 
-n the surface of the earth " ; but we shall call it a canon ninety miles 
long, with basaltic walls rising perpendicularly four hundred feet, 
higher than Bunker Hill Monument. It is a spectacle which never 
loses its hold upon the memory. 

About half-way through the valley the walls are broken down, so 



124 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




MARVELS OF NATURE. 



125 



that wagons can pass over it comfortably. " From this crossing the 
Coulee slopes both ways, north to its mouth in the gorge of the 
Columbia, and southeast to broaden out and encircle a chain of lakes, 
and finally to disappear in the great sandy plain near the junction 
of the Snake and Columbia rivers." This canon is strewn with 
volcanic debris, imparting to it a very weird and desolate appear- 
ance. 

"The Valley of the Laughing Waters," in Utah, contains scenes of 
picturesque beauty and awe-ins]:)iring grandeur unsurpassed in the 

world. The full-page il- 
lustration represents a 
rocky region where 
some of the most re- 
markable feats of na- 
ture are found. Rocks 
of fantastic forms, often 
massive and phenome- 
nal, meet the eye on 
every hand. Perhaps 
there are no objects 
in Yosemite grander 
than many to be seen 
in this locality. It has 
not the beautiful and 
grand waterfalls of the 
Yosemite, but in other 
particulars it is a wor- 
thy rival of that world- 
lenowned " W o n d e r - 
land." Towers and 
pinnacles of rock rise 
into the air like the 
spires and turrets of an 
Eastern city, and majestic cliffs challenge the admiration and wonder 
of travellers at every step. 

The " Church, Castle and Tower " is on the Missouri River, Mon- 
tana, and derives its name from the remarkable rock-formations on 
the sides of the mountains. On the left stands the stone church, sit- 
uated on a lofty eminence, with spire and turrets of more symmetrical 
proportions than those of many church edifices reared by art. On 
the right, as well as in the centre, are massive structures, having the 




INDIAN ROCK. 



126 



MAR]' ELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




MARVELS OF NATURE. 



127 



appearance of natural fortresses, built, or rather grown, in mountain 
fastnesses, impregnable and wonderful. 

"Indian Rock" is situated on an island in Columbia River, four 
miles from Celilo. Its name is derived from the profile of an Indian 
face, so conspicuous on its wall. From time immemorial the Indians 
have worshipped the profile, and have called it "The Great Spirit of 
the Columbia." It can be seen from the deck of a steamer passing 
through the old channel on the southwest, and also by the use of a 







OLD WOMAN OF THE MOUNTAIN. 



glass from the line of the O. R. & N. Co., two miles below. It is 
difficult to approach the island on account of the rapid current, which 
fact adds to the superstitious notions of the Indians, who were wont to 
risk their lives once a year to worship the Indian face on the rock. 
None of them ever ventured to live upon the island. The rock is a 
basaltic ridge, extending five hundred feet in length, and rising high 
into the air. 

The above scene is located in Montana, near Helena. The 
Northern Pacific Railway runs near by, although the " Old Woman " 
in granite cannot be seen from the train. It is one of the grandest 
localities on the line of the Northern Pacific, near where the tortuous 



128 MAKl'ELS OF THE A'Elf UEST. 

railway descends into the valley below. The whole region is crowded 
with objects of interest, none more so than the singular rock-forma- 
tions of which the " Old Woman " is one. The reader will agree 
with us that this rock was correctly named, its form showing a very 
striking resemblance to an aged female. 

We interject the statement here, that, in addition to the class of 
marvels considered, the rock-formations of the New West are truly 
remarkable. For instance, west of Pueblo, in Colorado, along the 
Arkansas River, there are miles and miles of wall from four and five 
to fifteen feet high, just as nature laid it, much of it as symmetrical 
and finished as skilled labor can produce. It is seen in the distance 
often, enclosing the summits of hills like the walls of a penitentiary 
or navy yard. Again, it extends for miles along the river, as if it 
were the boundary-wall of a grand park, or the guarded grounds of 
an agricultural society. Here and there the rocks assume the ap- 
pearance of fortifications, cathedrals, battlements, and towers. The 
whole appearance is that of solid masonry, such as we expect of 
human industry and skill. Let the pen of another confirm our 
description. 

Mrs. Dr. Blake, speaking from personal observation, says : " Be- 
yond Pueblo, the Arkansas widens into a rather sluggish, muddy 
stream, pretty in nothing except its windings, and the delicate fresh- 
ness of cottonwoods here and there on its banks, which are always 
newly lovely to us. It has. besides, for many miles, a fringe of forti- 
fications in wonderful perfection ; some in perfect cap-a-pie fighting 
order, some ruined and broken, but altogether one of the most pic- 
turesque and complete pieces of nature's workmanship we have met 
yet. It seems utterly impossible to believe that the walls and battle- 
ments, which appear of such solid masonry, should not have been 
laid with hands, or that the eye of some human architect did not 
direct the soaring grace of those lofty towers, or the solemn strength 
of these long lines of ramparts." 

The picture on page 129 illustrates the variety of form which the 
stones of these walls present. 

In one of the thriving cities of Kansas we saw a stone dwelling, 
built of granite blocks from twelve to eighteen inches long and half 
as thick and wide, more or less, just as they were dug from the earth. 
Until otherwise informed we supposed that the stones were hewn 
and hammered for the habitation. Yet these blocks of stone were 
dug from the surface of the earth, two or three miles away, where, 
subsequently, we saw them by the acre. Those of kindred size and 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



129 



form were selected for the building ; hence they appeared to have 
been cut by one pattern. Near by was a handsome face-wall, a 
portion of it eight or ten feet high, built in the same way, not one 
bk)ck in the wall hewn or hammered. 

In the same city, also, the flag-stones are quarried seven miles 
away, and laid on the sidewalks with no labor expended upon them 
except to cut them the required width. We saw one slab sixteen 
feet long by five feet and a half wide, smooth enough for the side- 







^^~~ 




FORMS OF WALLS. 



walk without one stroke of a hammer. We have not seen nicer 
sidewalks in any city, and yet the stones were laid just as nature 
furnished them, after cutting them the necessary width. We sug- 
gested to one of the authorities that the next desirable acquisition 
for the town was a quarry that would turn out hitching-posts all 
ready for setting. The citizens were then engaged in a search for 
natural gas, with which to light and heat the city. Their expecta- 
tions once realized, and the New West will boast of a city run by 
nature — a marvel indeed! 

The following cut represents Chicago Lakes, the principal and high- 



I30 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



est one being eleven thousand five hundred feet above the level of the 
sea — the highest body of water on the American continent. The 
mountains rise three thousand feet above the lake. It was here that 
the celebrated painter Bierstadt found the subject for his great paint- 
ing, "A Storm in the Rockies." The highest of this group of lakes is 
about one thousand five hundred feet hi<jher than Green Lake, in the 



■f 




FISHING ON THE MOUNTAINS. 



same vicinity, two miles from Georgetown. The latter has become a fa- 
mous resort for pleasure-seekers, where trout-fishing is exceptionally 
good, in waters so deep that, in places, the}' have ne\cr been sounded. 
There is peculiar novelty in going a-fishing up towards the sky 
instead of in the other direction. To catch trout in a lake situated 
twice as high as the summit of Mount Washington, is a pastime not 
afforded to sportsmen in many lands. It is one of the " patent 
rights" of the New West. 



MAR] 'ELS OF NATURE. 131 

Chicago Lakes are reached by good trails from Fall River, about 
three miles above Idaho Springs. The route is romantic with wild 
and impressive scenery, rewarding the tourist at every step with 
grand and unusual sights. 

Another of the curiosities of the New West is the petrified forest. 
Mr. Cozzcns describes one which he saw in Arizona, on the banks of 
the Little Bonita, just after the Apache Lidians had made a raid 
upon his party, and robbed Dr. Parker of his horse. 




PETRIFIED FOREST. 



" Here we came upon the remains of a petrified forest, prostrate, 
and partially buried in a kind of red mud. Hundreds of trees lay 
here, and had been converted by some chemical process into speci- 
mens of variegated jasper. One tree that we saw measured ten feet 
in diameter, and was over a hundred feet in length. Some looked as 
if they had been charred by fire ; their trunks were of a dark brown 
color, while the smaller branches and twigs were of a reddish hue. 
To me there was something impressively wonderful in the stupendous 
result of old Nature's labors in her secret laboratory. Who should 



132 



MARl'ELS OF THE NEW irEST. 



derive the cause ? Who tell the history of the prostrate forest ? How 
long has it there existed, and how many more centuries will it be 
there undisturbed ? 

" We brought away some beautiful specimens, although, owing to 
the depredations of our Apache friends, we were somewhat short of 
means of transportation. We found the waters of the creek de- 




lALIAN MOUNIAIN. 



lightfully cool and pleasant to the taste ; and, notwithstanding the sug- 
gestion of one of the j^arty, that it might have the same effect upon 
us that it had exidently had upon the giants of the forest l}'ing around 
us, we all drank of it freely, and enjoyed its refreshing coolness. 
Dr. Parker feelingly alluded to the loss of his horse, and the miseries 
of a pedestrian life through such a rough country, and urged us, in 



MARVELS OF NATURE. 



133 



case we should observe any appearance of petrifaction about him, not 
to leave him by the roadside, for the purpose of petrifying the travel- 
ler who came after us, but to give him Christian burial ; and that for 
a headstone we should use a piece of the rock on which he split, 
with this inscription thereon : ' Horseless and homeless a wanderer 
passed.' " 

The Italian Mountain is in Gunnison County, Colorado, and its 
summit, as seen in the cut, is 13,255 feet above the level of the sea. 
Tourists can reach 
the summit with 
comparative ease. 
Pike's Peak is less 
than a thousand 
feet higher than 
this mountain, and 
scarcely affords a 
better view to the 
traveller who per- 
severes in his ef- 
fort to plant his 
feet upon its 
crown. It is of 
singular formation, 
as the illustration 
shows, and pre- 
sents to the stu- 
dent of geology a 
fruitful subject for 
investigation. 

The cactus of 
the Gila Desert, 
Arizona, is a natu- 
ral phenomenon. 
To those who are 
accustomed to ser 
a cactus in a flow 
er-pot a few inches 
high, these Cacti Giganti 
vellous indeed 




ARIZONA CACT 



of the New West must appear mar- 
Some of them are sixty feet high. The illustra- 
tion shows the different forms of growth ; though many are a perfect 
cone, from twenty to sixty feet high, with a diameter of three feet 



134 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

near the ground. Their color is of different shades of green and yel- 
low ; and they are covered with sharp thorns, some; of them three 
inches in length. Each cone-cactus bears a single flower on its top 
annually, and yields a kind of fruit which the natives highly prize. 

Many of the huge cones have several smaller ones growing out of 
their trunks, at different heights, and they shoot upwards, parallel to 
the trunks that bear them. There is no tree or shrub around them 
over three feet high, so that they stand out in bold relief over the 
barren waste. 

Woodpeckers are plenty as rattlesnakes and lizards in this desert 
country, and the former elude the destructive instincts of the latter 
by pecking holes in the cactus near its top, where they build their 
nests and rear their young in safety. 

Captain Button, of the United States Survey, says : — 

" Many species of cactus are seen, the most abundant of which 
are the opuntias, or prickly-pears. Of these there are four or five 
very common species. A large cactus orchard in blossom is a very 
beautiful sight, displaying flowers which, for beauty of form and rich- 
ness of color, are seldom surpassed by the choicer gems of the con- 
servatory. Nor is it less attractive when in the fruit ; for it yields 
a multitude of purple 'pears,' which are very juicy and refreshing, 
and by no means contemptible in flavor." 



II. MARVELS OF RACE. 



^^TTOW strange that the newest part of our country should turn 

1 1 out to be the oldest," remarked a citizen of Las Vegas, New 
Mexico. 

" How so ? " we responded, not quite apprehending his meaning. 

" Well, our country west of the Missouri River is called the ' New 
West,' he replied ; " but it is much older than New England. Long 
before the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, this part of our land 
was inhabited by an intelligent, enterprising people." 

"Very true," we answered; "but they passed away, and left the 
Indian and buffalo in full possession. Their ruins are the only evi- 
dence you have of their having lived here." 

"And that is evidence enough," he quickly responded. "In some 
respects it is the most interesting kind of evidence. A certain mys- 
tery invests their history, adding to, instead of subtracting from, its 
fascination." 

The speaker was right. The history of the ancient races which 
dwelt centuries ago in Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, and other 
portions of the New West, has come to the front. Archseologists, 
ethnologists, historians, and other scholars, in the United States and 
P^urope, have become deeply interested in these ancient peoples. 
Who were they } Whence did they come } Whither did they go } 
Were they Toltecs } Were they Aztecs .' Were they related to the 
Pueblo Indians, still occupying a portion of our Western domain } 
Were they connected with the Mound-Builders of the Mississippi 
Valley, or with those of Ohio or Indiana } Do the remains of human 
races scattered over the Old and New West indicate a unity of origin 
of the aboriginal inhabitants of North America.? These questions 
indicate the depth of mystery to be sounded before a satisfactory 
solution of the problem is reached. That the problem will be solved 
there can be no reasonable doubt. In addition to the large number 
of scholars investigating the subject on their own account, the 
United States Government is pushing exploration as rapidly as pos- 
sible. The time is not far distant when the history of these races 



136 MAKTELS OF THE AEir J TEST. 

will be a matter of authentie record; Until then we must content 
ourselves with the meagre amount of knowledge in our possession ; 
which, however, is quite sufficient to awaken the lively interest of the 
general reader. 

Without question, Columbus supposed he had discovered a '* new 
world " when he set his foot upon this western shore ; and it was a 
" new world " to him ; but it was old to the races which had lived 
upon it for centuries before he came. It is new to us, also, because 
we never knew, until recently, that such races ever dwelt within its 
borders. The disclosure of the fact was a great surprise. At first it 
was received with many grains of allowance. The most credulous were 
not inclined to accept the announcement without undoubted proof. 
But the study and researches of the past decade have dissipated all 
lingering doubts. More light has been thrown upon the subject 
within fifteen years than during the previous five centuries. The 
year 1900 will possess so much light and knowledge relating thereto, 
according to present indications, that the history of the ancient races 
of the New West will be well understood. 

Not many years after Columbus discovered the " New World," 
strange rumors reached the authorities of Spain in regard to popu- 
lous towns and cities on its western borders. The " Seven Cities of 
Cibola," magnificent and rich, were said to be founded there, inhab- 
ited by an intelligent and enterprising people. It was a land of gold, 
also. The earth was full of precious metals, which the people mined 
at their leisure. These exciting rumors apj^ealed to the Spaniards' 
love of gold ; and there is no doubt that they had more or less influ- 
ence in organizing the exploring expedition of 1527, by order of the 
king, commanded by Pamphilo de Narvaez, to invade the country 
which rumor made so populous and rich. This exploring party per- 
ished by shipwreck, except Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and three 
companions. Ten years \'aca and his companions traversed portions 
of the New West, exploring the entire territories of New Mexico, 
Arizona, and Utah, and perhaps pushing into Colorado before enter- 
ing Mexico. They found large cities " made of earth," inhabited by 
a peaceful and interesting race, worshippers of the sun, who brought 
their blind and sick to the white men to be healed. They found evi- 
dence of immense wealth, inexhaustible mines of gold and silver, 
enough to satisfy even the greed of Spanish rulers. The report of 
Vaca to his king confirmed the rumors which had already excited the 
Spaniards, and they became mad with the lust of gold and passion 
for adventure ; and valiant caxaliers, who had won renown in the bat- 



MARVELS OF RACE. 1 37 

ties of the Moor among- the mountains of Andakisia, and had seen 
the silver cross of I^Y'rdinand raised above the red towers of the 
Alhambra, now turned their brave swords against the feeble natives 
of the New World. Less than half a century had gone by since 
the discovery of America ; the conquests of Pizarro and Cortez were 
fresh in men's minds, and an expedition, containing the enchanting 
quality called hazard, was soon organized. Illustrious noblemen sold 
their vineyards and mortgaged their estates to fit the adventurers 
out, assured they would never need more gold than they would 
bring back from the true El Dorado. The young men saw visions ; 
the old men dreamed dreams ; volunteers flocked to the familiar 
standards ; and an army was soon ready " to discover and subdue to 
the crown of Spain the ' Seven Cities of Cibola.' " 

And so these people of the New World were conquered, and their 
country occupied in the name of the king of Spain. 

Here is the first account we have of an ancient race dwelling 
under the shadow of the Rocky Mountains ; and even this scarcely 
received public attention until recent discoveries revived the old 
record. Through the military operations of the United States Govern- 
ment, and more especially its geological surveys, the remains of the 
ancient "Cave" and "Cliff Dwellers" have been discovered within a 
few years, followed by the most remarkable and interesting disclo- 
sures. We shall be able to furnish such views of the cave and cliff 
dwellings of centuries ago as to leave no doubt in the mind of the 
reader, that, even before Columbus sailed on his voyage of discovery, 
a peaceful, industrious race, cultivating the soil and practising some 
of the arts, dwelt in considerable portions of the New West. 

CAVE-DWELLERS. 

On the bluffs of Beaver Creek, a small stream tributary to the 
Rio Verde, are about fifty walled caves of different sizes, once the 
refuge of a prehistoric race, of whom the present Indian tribes have 
no knowledge or traditions, although their traditions run back four or 
five centuries. These caves are from five to twenty feet in depth. 
The mouths are closed by mason-work of stone and cement still in a 
good state of preservation. The larger caves are divided by wood 
and stone partitions and floors into numerous small apartments, 
where it would seem this strange people passed years of doubt and 
fear, threatened by famine within, and by cruel persecution and tor- 
ture from a besieging enemy witliout. The lower caves were reached 



138 



MARVELS OF THE NEW llEST. 



by climbing the projecting points of the bluffs ; but the higher ones 
could be reached only by ladders, and that, too, at the imminent risk 
of tumbling down from sixty to one hundred feet. 

Near by these caves are the ruins of stone dwellings built without 
cement, evidently the homes of the people who constructed the caves 
for a refuge from their enemies. 

\V. H. Holmes, of the United States Survey Corps, e.xamined 
these ruins carefully, and he says the cut " gives a fair representation 
of the present appearance of these cave-dwellings." He remarks 
further : — 

" Small fragments of mortar still adhered to the firmer parts of 
the wall, from which it is inferred that they were at one time plas- 
tered. It is also extremely probable that they were walled up in 
front and furnished with doors and windows, yet no fragment of wall 





Jt . 







CAVE-TOWN NEAR THE SAN JUAN. 



has been preserved. . . . This circumstance should be considered in 
reference to its bearing upon the question of antiquity. If we sup- 
pose the recess to be destroyed is six feet deep, the entire cliff must 
recede that number of feet in order to accomplish it. If the rock 
were all of the friable c[uality of the middle part, this would indeed 
be the matter of a \ery few decades ; but it should be remembered 
that the upper third of the cliff-face is composed of beds of compara- 
tively hard rocks, sandstones, and indurated shales. It should also 
be noted still further that at the base of the cliff there is an almost total 
absence of debris, or fallen rock, or even of an ordinary talus of earth, 
so that the period that had elapsed since these houses were deserted, 
must equal the time taken to undermine and break down the six feet 
of solid rock, plus the time required to reduce the solid rock to dust ; 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



139 



considering, also, that the erosive agents here are unusually weak, 
the resulting period would certainly not be inconsiderable." 

This illustration furnishes a view of cave-dwellings somewhat dif- 
ferent from those just described. They were discovered by A. D. 
Wilson, chief of the United States Topographical Corps in Southern 
Colorado. The chief building was about the size of the Patent Office 
at Washington. As described by him to another,^ " it stood upon the 




ANCIENT CAVE-DWELLINGS ON THE McELMO. 



banks of the Animus, in the San Juan country, and contained per- 
haps five hundred rooms. The roof and portions of the walls had 
fallen, but the part standing indicated a height of four stories. A 
number of the rooms were fairly preserved, had small loop-hole win- 
dows, but no outer doors. The building had doubtless been entered 
originally by means of ladders resting on niches, and drawn in after 
the occupants. The floors were of cedar, each log as large round as 
a man's head, the spaces filled neatly by smaller poles and twigs, 
covered by a carpet of cedar bark. The ends of the timber were 



Emma C. Ilardacre. 



HO MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

bruised and frayed, as if severed by a dull instrument ; in the vicinity 
were stone hatchets, and saws made of sandstone-slivers about two 
feet long, worn to a smooth edge. A few hundred yards from the 
mammoth building was a second large house in ruins, and between 
the two strongholds ruins of small dwellings, built of cobble-stones 
laid in adobc,i and arranged along streets, after the style of the vil- 
lage of to-day. The smaller houses were in a more advanced state of 
ruin, on account of the round stones being more readily disintegrated 
by the elements than the heavy masonry. The streets and houses of 
this deserted town are overgrown by juniper and pinon, — the latter 
a dwarf, wide-spreading pine which bears beneath the scales of its 
cones delicious and nutritious nuts. From the size of the dead as 
well as the living trees, and from their position on the heaps of 
crumbling stones, it is evident that a great period of time has elapsed 
since the buildings fell. How many hundred years they stood after 
desertion before yielding to the inroads of time cannot be certainly 
known." 

Some writers maintain that the presence of cedar wood in these 
ruins, in a good state of preservation, is evidence that great antiquity 
cannot be attached to them. There is no reason why cedar in South- 
ern Colorado, well protected, should not continue sound as long as it 
does in Asia or Egypt. In the former country it has been kept a 
thousand years, and in the latter two thousand, after being taken from 
the forest. The cedars of Colorado, and other parts of the Southwest, 
never rot. They die, and stand erect, without sap or rot. " The 
winds and whirling sands carve the dead trees into forms of fantas- 
tic beaut)-, th-ill holes through the trunks, and play at hide-and-seek 
in the perforated limbs, until, after ages of resistance, they literally 
blow away in atoms of fine, clear dust." 

Many of tlie ancient towns in question were built in the form of a 
circle, as well as in that of a square and parallelogram. l^ut what- 
ever form was adopted, the measurement was exact. The square 
was a perfect square, and the circle a perfect circle. The cut on next 
page represents a circular town, with three tiers of dwellings, one 
above the other, the second tier receding from the first, and the third 
from the second. Evidently it was built both for Ikjuics antl defence. 
It was town and fort combined. 

The rooms of some of the houses referred to were plastered, and 
the mortar was put on with the hands, — a fact established by the 
distinct impression of the fingers, and, in some instances, of the 

' Mud or clav bricks dried in the sun. 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



141 



whole hand. In one instance, the plastering bore the imprint of the 
little chubby hands of children, who, no doubt, were delighted with 
the impressions they could make in the mortar before it was dry, 
proving that they were human. 

The foregoing sketches of cave-dwellings are a fair illustration of 
all which abound in New Mexico, Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and other 
portions of the New West. We need not multiply illustrations, since 
the remarkable ruins of some mammoth structures to follow, with the 




A CAVE-TOWN RESTORED. 



Still more wonderful cliff-dwellings, will acquaint the reader, as far as 
can be possible at present, with this mysterious race of human 
beings. 

Amongst the ruins of the valley of Gila, Arizona, is the " Casa 
Grande," whose marvellous history antedates even the coming of the 
Spaniards. 

The eminence on which it stands is two and one-half miles from 
the Rio Gila River, and both the structure and its surroundings fur- 
nish evidence that it must have existed five or six centuries, and 



14^ 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



probably longer. There is little doubt that Coronado referred to this 
ruin under the name of the " Chichilticalle, or the Red House." 
Nearly two hundred years ago this ruin was visited by Fathers 
Mange and Rino, and it was very ancient at that time. Father 
Mange described it as including eleven buildings then, " surmounted 
by a protecting wall of moderate height." Now, only the following 
ruin is in such a state of preservation as to admit of intelligent exam- 
ination, although two others are clearly visible. " It is built of large 
adobes measuring four feet by two, and it is fifty feet by forty feet 
in size. The walls are five feet thick at the base, and gradually 
decrease in breadth toward the top. The inside is divided into five 




_^'- -Miiz-.'^ 



THE CASAS GRANGES IN 1859. 



rooms, the central one being eight feet long and fourteen wide ; the 
others are thirty-two feet long by ten wide. 

" r^ragments of cedar-wood beams, still inserted in the walls, prove 
that the buildings originally consisted of three, perhaps in its central 
portion of four, stories. No staircase, nor anything to take its place, 
can be made out, so that communication between the stories must 
have taken place by means of ladders. A vast conflagration has 
everywhere left indelible traces, and this is supposed to have been 
the work of the Apaches, the wildest and most indomitable of all the 
Indian tribes. The ' Casa Grande' was the centre of an important 
establishment. Kartlett tells us that in every direction, as far as the 
eye can reach, we see crumbling walls and masses of rubbish, the 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



HI 



remains of old buildings, while Father Mange, Rino, and Font say 
that the plain was covered for a radius of ten miles wnth hillocks of 
adobes turned to dust. In fact, volumes would not suffice to describe 
all the ruins in these regions, or all the people who have inherited 
them." 1 

The existence of artificial canals, also, in this vicinity, furnish 
undoubted proof that irrigation was understood and practised in that 
far-off period. One canal, evidently intended to receive the waters 
of the Gila, and distribute them over the cultivated lands, appears to 
have been nearly ten miles in length, twenty-five feet wide or more, 
and ten feet deep. _ _ 

It is claimed that — ^=^ -^-^ ^^~=-"^^- ^^-_^ 

in that portion of Ari- 
zona known as Tonto 
Basin, embracing more 
than ten thousand 
square miles, nearly 
every eminence fur- 
nishes unmistakable 
proof of an ancient 
race in its ruins. In 
some of the valleys, the 
foundations and walls 
of cities have been dis- 
covered, once inhabi- 
ted by thousands of 
intelligent and busy 
people. Although 
their history is in- 
volved in mystery, there is no question now, that it runs back into 
the centuries before Columbus discovered this western world. And, 
while the writers and explorers of the past have believed that the 
races of to-day radiated over the earth from some point in Asia, the 
opinion of Senor Altamirano, of Mexico, the best Aztec scholar ever 
known, is, that Asia was peopled from this country, instead of this 
country being peopled from Asia. In other words, this is the o/(^ 
world instead of the nezv. What disposition he makes of the Garden 
of Eden does not appear. 

The above ruin is perched on the top of a rock in the McElmo 
Valley, with good evidence of an agricultural people dwelling near by. 

^ Prehistoric America, by the Marquis de Xadailiac. 




A TOWER, 
imit of a rock in the McElmo Valley 



144 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

The structure was erected, no doubt, both for observation and 
defence. Hohnes says that " every isolated rock and every bit of 
mesa within a circle of miles is strewn with remnants of human 
dwellings," as represented by the cut. 

In New Mexico there are " Casas Grandes " even more remarka- 
ble than that of the Gila Valley. They are in San Miguel Valley, 
near the boundary line of the Territory. " Masses of rubbish in the 
midst of which rise parts of walls, some of them fifty feet high, indi- 
cate the old site of the town. The walls were built of adobes. 
These adobes were of very irregular length and twenty-two inches 
thick, while the walls themselves were nearly five feet wide and sim- 
ply coated with clay moistened with water. The chief building was 
eight hundred feet long on the fronts facing north and south, but 
only two hundred and fifty on those to the east and west." 

" A short distance off, other buildings surround a square court. 
Here, too, we find the little cells which are one of the characteristic 
features of the ' Casas Grandes,' as of the cliff-houses and the pue- 
blos. This is an important indication of similar habits, and of the 
similar origin of the builders. There are more than two thousand 
mounds in the neighborhood of the ' Casas Grandes,' and it is prob- 
able that they were burial-grounds. A few miles farther off rises a 
regular fortress, not built of adobes, but of well-dressed stones put 
together without mortar of any kind. The walls are from ten to 
twenty feet thick, and the summit is reached by a path cut in the 
rock." 

Lieutenant Simpson, of the United States corps, in' his " Navajoe 
E.xpedition," describes the ruins in the Canon de Chaco, and in the 
valley of the Rio de Chelley. There are over thirty of these ruins, 
six of which he describes, viz. : Pintado, Meje-gi, Una-Vida, Hungo 
Pavie, Chettro-Kettle, and Penasca-Blanca. All but the last strik- 
ingly resemble each other, so that the illu.stration on the following 
page substantially represents them all. The Lieutenant says : — 

" The pueblo Pintado formed one structure, and was built of tab- 
ular pieces of hard, fine-grained, compact, gray sandstone, a material 
which is unknown in the present architecture of New Mexico. Age 
and the atmosphere have imparted a reddish tint, the layers, or slabs, 
being not thicker than three inches, and sometimes as thin as a fourth 
of an incli. The masonry discovers a combination of science and 
art, which can only be referred to a higher state of civilization and 
refinement than is to be found in the works of either the Mexicans or 
Pueblos of to-day. 



A/ARJ'ELS OF RACE. 



145 




RUINS IN THE CANON DE CHACO 



" So beautiful, diminutive, and true are tlie details of the struc- 
ture, as to give them at a little distance the appearance of a magnifi- 
cent piece of mosaic work. 



146 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

*' In the outer face of the buildings no signs of mortcir are to be 
seen, the intervals between the beds, or layers, being chinked with 
beautifully colored pebbles of the minutest thinness ; the filling and 
backing of the walls is done in rubble masonry, the mortar, however, 
showing no indication of the presence of lime ; their thickness at 
the base is a little more than three feet, while higher up it is less, 
diminishing every story by retreating jogs on the inside from the 
bottom to the top. 

"The elevation of the walls at the present time is thirty-two feet, 
showing it to have been originally four stories high ; tlKi ground-plan, 
in exterior development, is four hundred and thirteen feet. On the 
ground-floor are fifty-four apartments, the smallest one measuring 
five feet square, the largest one thirteen feet by seven. These rooms 
communicate with each other by means of small doors, two and a 
half feet wide by three feet high. 

" In the second story the doors are much larger; in this, as in the 
third story, were once windows. The system of flooring was unhewn 
beams about six inches in diameter, from which the bark had been 
carefully removed ; they were laid transversely from wall to wall, 
small, peeled sticks about one inch in diameter being laid across 
them ; these were covered with grass or tulle, which, with a layer of 
mud mortar, furnished the floor to the room above. These beams 
show no signs of the saw or axe, but bear the marks of having been 
hacked off by some very imperfect instrument. 

" In different portions of the ruins were three circular apartments 
sunk in the ground, the walls being of masonry ; these apartments 
measured from three to twenty-seven feet in diameter, and were 
about six feet in the clear, were called cstufas, and were used for the 
performances of the ceremonies and rites of their religion, the only 
entrance to them being through a small door in the top, which also 
admitted the light." 

CLIFF-DWELLERS. 
We now come to the cliff-dwellers, the most remarkable and mys- 
terious of all the ancient races. " In an encampment, one thousand 
feet above the valley of the Rio Mancos, are single houses, groups of 
two and three, and villages, according to the width of the shelf they 
occupy. They are so high that the naked eye can distinguish them 
merely as sj^ecks. There is no possible access to them from above 
on account of the rocks tliat project overhead ; no present way of 
reaching them below, although doubling paths and foot-holes in the 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



147 




RESTORED TOWER AND CLIFF-HOUSES. 



148 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

rocks show where the way has been of old trocUlcn by human feet. A 
few houses are two stories, — one showed four stories, — but generally 
they are not higher than a man's head ; division walls are built, be- 
ginning at the back of the opening and working outward to the front 
of the cave, which is so neatly walled by masonry of the prevailing 
stones that the artificial work is scarcely noticeable by a casual 
observer. Upon the summits of the loftiest battlements are placed 
at irregular intervals round stone towers, supposed to have been 
signal-towers." 

The full-page illustration furnishes a good view of cliff-houses and 
round tower as seen in the valley of the Rio Mancos and other locali- 
ties. Holmes says: "The cliff -houses conform in shape to the floor 
of the niche or shelf on which they are built. They are of firm, neat 
masonry, and the manner in which they are attached or cemented 
to the cliffs is simply marvellous. Their construction has cost a 
great deal of labor, the rock and mortar of which they are built 
having been brought for hundreds of feet up the most precipitous 
places." 

In describing the scene illustrated by the cut, Holmes adds : — 
" In one place in particular, a picturesque outstanding promontory 
has been full of dwellings, literally honeycombed by this earth-burrow- 
ing race ; and as one from below views the ragged, window-pierced 
crags, he is unconsciously led to wonder if they are not the ruins of 
some ancient castle, behind whose mouldering walls are hidden the 
dread secrets of a long-forgotten people ; but a nearer approach 
quickly dispels such fancies, for the windows prove to be only the 
doorways to shallow and irregular apartments, hardly sufificiently 
commodious for a race of pigmies. Neither the outer openings nor 
the apertures that communicate between the caves are large enough 
to allow a person of large stature to pass, and one is led to suspect 
that these nests were not the dwellings proper of these people, but 
occasional resorts for women and children, and that the somewhat 
extensi\'e ruins in the valley below were their ordinar)' dwelling- 
places. On the brink of the promontory above stands the ruin of a 
tower, still twelve feet high, and similar in most respects to those 
already described. These round towers are very numerous in the 
valley of the Mancos. From this point alone at least three otiiers 
are in view, some on the higher promontories, others quite low, 
within twenty or thirty feet of the river-bed. I visited and measured 
seven along the lower fifteen miles of the course of this stream. In 
dimensions thev range from ten to sixteen feet in diameter, and from 



MARVJ-ILS OF RACE. 



149 



five to fifteen feet in hei<;ht, while tlie walls are from one to two feet 
in thickness. They are in nearly every case connected with other 
structures, mostly rectani;ular in form. At the nif)uth of the Mancos, 
h(nvever, a double circle occurs, the smaller one having been the 
tower projx-r. It is fifteen feet in diameter, and from eight to ten 
in height. The larger circular wall is forty feet in diameter, and 
froui two to four feet liigh, and is built tangent to the smaller." 

This cut shows a 
cliff-dweller's house in 
a rock, a marvellous 
piece of enterprise and 
ingenuity. As much 
at home among the 
mountain cliffs as the 
eagles, this persistent 
people seemed to court 
difificulties and dan- 
gers. With few and 
poor tools to labor 
with, their example of 
heroic endeavor and 
perseverance comes 
down to us over the 
centuries to inspire 
noble effort, as the 
h(nise in the rock 
proves. 

The cut on the fol- 
lowing page is an ex- 
cellent sketch of what 
Jackson disc(jvered, 
and named the "Two- 
Storied Cliff-House," 
on the banks of the 
Rio Mancos. It is sit- 
uated seven hundred feet above the level of the river, and is well 
preserved. One of the rooms measures nine feet by ten ; another 
is six feet square; while the height of the building is twelve feet. 
There is a space of two or three feet between the walls ; and the 
rocks above form a roof overhanging it. The inside walls of the 
rooms were covered with several coatings of clay moistened with 




•\:,£i/^a 



HOUSE IN A ROCK OF MONTEZUMA CANOt 



ISO 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



water. Here, again, was ample proof that the mortar was laid on 
with the hand, for the imprint of fingers was distinct. 

Mr. Jackson furnishes the following description of a ruin, quite 
different from the one last mentioned, and more accessible. He dis- 
covered it on the banks of the Rio San Juan : — 

** About twelve miles below the Montezuma we discovered, far 
away upon the opposite side of the river, a great circular cave, occu- 
pying very nearly the entire height of the bluff in which it occurred, 
and in which, by close inspection with the glass, we were enabled to 
make out a long line of masonry. Fording the river, and approach- 
ing it, we found that the old bluff-line at this place was a little over 




TWO-STORIED CLIFF-HOUSE. 



two hundred feet in height, the upper half a light-colored, firm, mas- 
sive sandstone, and the lower a dark red and shaly variety. The 
opening of the cave is almost circular, two hundred feet in diameter, 
divided equally between the two kinds of rocks, reaching, within a 
few feet, the top of the bluff above and the level of the valley below. 
It runs back in a semi-circular sweep to a depth of one hundred feet ; 
the top is a perfect half-dome, and the lower half only less so from 
the accumulation of dc'bris and the thick brushy foliage ; the cool 
dampness of its shadowed interior, where the sun never touches, 
favoring a luxuriant growth. A stratum of harder rock across the 
central line of the cave has left a bench running around its entire 
half-circle, ui)on which is liuilt the row of buildings which caught our 



MARVELS OF RACE. 151 

attention half a mile away. The houses occupy the left-hand or 
eastern half of the cave, for the reason, probably, that the ledge 
was wider on that side ; and the wall back of it receded in such a 
manner as to give considerable additional room for the second floor, 
or for the upper part of the one-story rooms. It is about fifty feet 
from the outer edge of the cave to the first building, a small structure 
sixteen feet long, three feet wide at the outer end, and four at the 
opposite end; the walls, standing only four feet on the highest 
remaining corner, were nearly all tumbled in. Then came an open 
space, eleven feet wide and nine deep, that served probably as a sort of 
workshop. Four holes were drilled into the smooth rock floor, about 
six feet equidistantly apart, each from six to ten inches deep, and 
five in diameter, as perfectly round as though drilled by machinery. 
We can reasonably assume that these people were familiar with the 
art of weaving, and that it was here they worked at the loom, the 
drilled holes supporting its posts. In this open space are a number 
of grooves worn into the rock in various places, caused by the arti- 
ficers of the little town in shaping and polishing their stone 
implements. 

"the main ruilding. 

" The main building comes next, occupying the widest portion of 
the ledge, which gives an average width of ten feet inside ; it is forty- 
eight feet long outside, and twelve high, divided inside into three 
rooms, the first two thirteen and a half feet each in length, and the third 
sixteen feet, divided into two stories, the lower and upper five feet in 
height. The joist-holes did not penetrate through the walls, being 
inserted about six inches — half the thickness. The beams rested 
upon the sloping back-wall, which receded far enough to make the 
upper rooms about square. Window-like apertures afforded commu- 
nication between each room all through the second story, excepting 
that which opened out to the back of the cave. There was also one 
window in each lower room, about twelve inches square, looking out 
toward the open country ; and in the upper rooms several small aper- 
tures, not more than three inches wide, were pierced through the 
wall — hardly more than peep-holes. 

"THE ROOM DIVISIONS. 

"The walls of the large building continued back in an unbroken 
line one hundred and thirty feet farther, with an average height of 
eight feet. The space was divided into eleven apartments, with 



152 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

communicating aj^ertures between them. The first room was nine 
and a half feet wide, the others dwindHng gradualh' to only four feet 
in width at the other extremity. The rooms were of unequal length, 
the following being their inside measurements, commencing from the 
outer end, viz. : Twelve and a half, nine and a half, eight, seven and 
a half, nine, ten, eight, seven, seven, eight, thirty-one feet ; the ledge 
then runs along fifty feet farther, gradually narrowing, where another 
wall occurs crossing it, after which it soon merges into the smooth 
wall of the cave. The first of these rooms had an aperture large enough 
to crawl through, leading outward ; the wall around it had been 
broken away so that its exact size could not be determined ; all the 
others, of which there were about two to each room, were mere peep- 
holes, about three inches in diameter, and generally pierced through 
the wall at a downward angle. No sign of either roofing or flooring 
material could be found in any of the rooms. Everything of that 
kind has been thoroughly burned out or removed, so that not a ves- 
tige of wood-work remains. We cannot be positively certain that 
they had ever been roofed, the mild temperature of this region 
hardly necessitating any other covering than such as the ample 
dome of the cave itself offered. 

" In the central room of the main building we found a circular 
basin-like depression, thirty inches across and ten deep, that had 
served as a fireplace, being still filled with the ashes and cinders of 
aboriginal fires, the surrounding walls being blackened with smoke 
and soot. This room was undoubtedly the kitchen of the house. 
Some of the smaller rooms appear to have been used for the same 
purpose, the fires having been made in the corner against the back- 
wall, the smoke escaping overhead. 

" ANCIENT MASONRY. 

"The masonry displayed in the construction of the walls is very 
creditable ; a symmetrical cur\e is prcscr\cd throughout the whole 
line, and every ])()rtion j^erfectly plumb ; the sub-divisions are at right 
angles to the front. The stones employed are of the size used in all 
similar structures, and are roughly broken to a uniform size. More 
attention seems to have been paid to securing a smooth ai)pearance 
ujjon the exterior ihan tlie interior surfaces, the clay cement being 
spread to a perfectly plane surface, somethin;, like a modern stucco 
finish. In nian\- i)laces, of course, this had peeled away, leaving the 
rough, ragged edges of the stones exj^osed. 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



153 



"On the inner walls of some of the sub-divisions that appear to 
have been used less than others, the impressions of the hands, and 
even the delicate lines on the thumbs 
and fingers of the builders, were plain- 
ly retained ; in one or two cases a 
perfect mould of the whole inner sur- 
face of the hand was imprinted in the 
plastic cement. They were consider- 
ably smaller than our own hands, and 
were probably those of women or chil- 
dren. In the mortar between the 
stones several corn-cobs were found 
imbedded, and in other places the 
whole ear of corn had been pressed 
into the clay, leaving its impression ; 
the ears were quite small, none more 
than five inches long. In the rub- 
bish of the large house some small 
stone implements, rough indented 
pottery in fragments, and a few ar- 
row-points were found. It is a won- 
der that anything is found, for it is 
more than likely that every house 
has been ransacked time after time 
by wandering bands of Utes and Na- 
vajos, who would search with keen 
eyes for any articles of use or orna- 
ment left after the first spoliation. 

"The whole appearance of the 
place and its surroundings indicates 
that the family or little community 
who inhabited it were in good circum- 
stances and the lords of the surround- 
ing country. Looking out from one 
of their houses, with a great dome 
of solid rock overhead, that echoed 
and re-echoed every word uttered 
with marvellous distinctness, and bc- 

1 X.1 .1 ^ r 1 CLIFF-HOUSE ON THE MANGOS. 

low them a steep descent of one hun- 
dred feet to the broad fertile valley of the Rio San Juan, covered with 
waving fi.elds of maize and scattered groves of majestic cotton woods. 




154 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



these old people, whom even the imagination can hardly clothe with 
reality, must have felt a sense of security that even the incursions of 
their barbarian foes could hardly have disturbed." 

The cut (p. 153) represents cliffs or palisades, two hundred feet 
high, rising almost perpendicularly. About one-third of the distance 
upward, in a recess made by the weather, is a cliff-house, sixty feet 
long by about fifteen at its widest part. The walls are a foot thick 
and flush with the edge of the precipice. They are erected with 
skill, the angles are regular, the lines do not diverge from the per- 
pendicular, and, when the difficulties the builder had to contend with 
in laying his foundations in such a position and at such a height are 
taken into account, these aerial dwellings may well e.xcite our admi- 
ration. A people who would undertake a work of so much labor, 
with almost insurmountable difficulties before them, must have pos- 
sessed some of the most reliable traits of character. 




GROUND-PLAN OF LAST-NAMED CLIFF-HOUSES. 



Forty or fifty feet above the cliff-house described is another of 
equal dimensions, perhaps one hundred and twenty-five feet from the 
river. Holmes says of the extraordinary situation of these houses, 
" Whether viewed from below or from the heights above, the effect 
is almost startling, and one cannot but feel that no ordinary circum- 
stances could have driven a people to such places of resort." 

The ground plan of the cliff-houses just described will gi\e the 
reader a clearer view of their construction and magnitude. As the 
sketch shows, the rooms were separated by division walls, which, 
however, did not reach to the rock-roof. The passage from one 
room to another was accomplished by ladders reaching to the top of 
tlie ])artiti()n walls. 

The circle in the centre represents the inexitahle cstufa, which is 
found in all the buildings examined. To what this room was devoted 
has been a mooted c|uestion among explorers ; but the most reason- 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



able view appears to be that it was consecrated to sacred use, and 
designed for worship. It is supposed that the people were sun- 
worshippers, and that, within this singular apartment, their more 
singular rites were performed. This view is confirmed by the fact 
that the room is cut off from the others, so that the only way of 
entrance is through a tube of solid masonry about twenty-two inches 
in diameter, and in this particular case, thirty feet in length. 
Through this contracted space a person was obliged to crawl as if 
the act were a penance belonging to the rite to be performed within 
the csti/fa. In other build- 
ings the tube leading to tlic 
estufa was ten, fifteen, an-' 
twenty feet in length. 

The Montezuma Vallc^ , 
which is ten miles wide in 
some places, is covered witli 
ruins. The cliffs overhan; 
ing the valley are dotted with 
caves and rock- shelters, 
which the population turned 
to account. Holes were di-^ 
covered, cut in the solid rock 
at regular distances for the 
hands and feet in the peri- 
lous ascent to these habita- 
tions. The forests could not 
have furnished timber long 
enough for ladders to rea(-h 

these lofty abodes. The _ _ 

houses were not as numerous ••— -"^ ~ '-""wRr). ^ " -^ ^ " " ■ . 

here as in the valley of the cliff-dwellings, mancos canon. 

H oven weep, where, "on a 

natural terrace measuring scarcely three hundred feet by fifty, the 

cliff-dwellers had managed to erect no less than forty different 

houses." 

The above is another cliff-house similar to the last one described, 
situated on the Rio Mancos River, in -Southwestern Colorado. It was 
discovered by W. H. Holmes, of the United States Survey, in 1876; 
and he says : — 

" So cleverly are these houses hidden away in the dark recesses, 
and so very like the surrounding cliffs in color, that I had almost 







156 



MARl'KLS OF THE XEW IVEST. 



completed the sketch of the upper house before the lower, or ' sixteen- 
windowcd ' one was detected. They are at least eight hundred feet 
above the river. Tlie lower five hundred feet is of rough cliff-broken 




CLIFF-HOUSE IN THE CANON DE CHELLY. 



slope, the remainder of massive, bedded sandstone, full of wind-worn 
niches, crevices, and caves. Within one hundred feet of the cliff-toj}, 
set deep in a great niche, with arched, overhanging roof, is the upper 



MARVELS OF RACE. I 57 

house, its front-wall built along the very brink of a sheer precipice. 
Thirty feet below, in a similar but less remarkable niche, is the larger 
house, with its long line of apertures, which I afterward found to be 
openings intended rather for the insertion of beams than for win- 
dows." 

The drawing (page 156) is a cliff-house two miles from Cave 
Town. It is built at a height of seventy feet, and is reached by steps 
cut in the rock. " The house is one story high ; the ground-floor 
measures eighteen feet by ten, and this narrow space forms two sep- 
arate rooms, whilst the first story consists of only one. The over- 
hanging rock serves as a protecting roof." If the house were built 
for defence chiefly, it was a success. Arrows could not reach it from 
below, and no enemy would be so foolhardy as to attempt to reach it 
by the steps cut in the rock. Arrows from above would have pierced 
his heart by the time he accomplished half the distance. 

The difficulties in the way of explorers is well set forth by Mr. 
Jackson, in the following account of climbing to one of these human 
eyries in Southwestern Colorado. The party were already one thou- 
sand feet above the valley, and Mr. Jackson was photographing a 
cliff-house, when " one of the party, sharper-eyed than the rest, de- 
scried, away up near the top, perfect little houses, sandwiched in 
among the crevices of the horizontal strata of the rock of which the 
bluff was composed. While busy with my photographs, two of the 
j^arty started up to scale the height, and inspect this lofty abode. By 
penetrating a side-canon some little ways, a more gradual slope was 
found, that carried them to the summit of the bluff. Now, the 
trouble was to get doivn to the house, and this was accomplished only 
by crawling along a ledge of about twenty inches in width, and not 
tall enough for more than a creeping position. In momentary peril 
of life, — for the least mistake would precipitate him down the whole 
of the dizzy height, — our adventurous seeker after knowledge crept 
along the ledge until the broader platform was reached, upon which 
the most perfect of the houses alluded to stood. The ledge ended 
with the house, which was built out flush with its outer edge. This 
structure resembled in general features the cliff-houses already spoken 
of. The masonry was as firm and solid as when first constructed ; 
the inside was finished with exceptional care. In width it was about 
five feet in front, the side-wall running back in a semicircular sweep, 
in length fifteen, and in height seven feet. The only aperture was 
both door and window, and about twenty by thirty inches in diame- 
ter. Its uniqueness was its position on the face of the bluff. To 



158 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

the casual observer, it would not be noticed once in fifty times in 
passing, so similar to the rocks between which it was plastered did it 
appear from our position on the trail." 

Captain Macomb, who commanded an expedition from Santa Fe 
to Grand River, for the United States Government, examined the 
ruins of cliff-dwellings in Labyrinth Canon, and he reported as 
follows : — 

"Two miles below the head of Labyrinth Canon we came upon 
the ruins of a large number of houses of stone, evidently built by the 
Pueblo Indians, as they are similar to those on the Dolores, and the 
pottery scattered about is identical with that before found in so many 
places. It is very old, but of excellent c[uality, made of red clay coated 
with white, and handsomely figured. Here the houses are built in 
the sides of the cliffs. A mile or two below we saw others crowning 
the inaccessible summits — inaccessible except by ladders — of pic- 
turesque detached buttes of red sandstone, which rise to the height 
of one hundred and fifty feet above the bottom of the cafion. Similar 
buildings w^ere found lower down ; and broken pottery was picked uj) 
upon the summits of the cliffs overhanging Grand River ; evidence 
that these dreadful canons were once the homes of families belonging 
to the great people formerly spread over all this region now so utterly 
sterile, solitary, and desolate." 

Mr. Crofutt says of the full-page illustration : " It represents a pic- 
turesque, outstanding promontory hundreds of feet above the valley, 
full of dwellings, literally honeycombed by this earth-burrowing race. 
And as one from below views the rugged, window-pierced crags, he 
is unconsciously led to wonder if they are not the ruins of some 
ancient castle, behind whose mouldering walls are iiidden the dead 
secrets of a long-forgotten peoi)le ; but a near approach quickly dis- 
pels such fancies, for the windows only prove to be doorways to 
shallow and irregular apartments of small dimensions. 

"It is hardly probable that these elevated places were the dwell- 
ings proper of these people, but occasional resorts for women and 
children, as a place of safety in times of war and invasion ; and that 
the somewhat extensive ruins in the valley below were their ordinary 
dwelling-places. On the brink of the promontory above, stands the 
ruins of a tower, still twelve feet high. 

" In another locality, one of the cliff-houses is fully one thousand 
five hundred feet above the bottom of the caiion, and between three 
hundred and four hundred feet below the top. Every house appears 
in perfect preservation, and, when viewed with a field-glass, shows 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



159 




uLIFi- L^tLLINLib buUTHEhN COLORADO. 



i6o 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



the whitewash still on the walls, and its size indicates that the town 
once contained a thousand or more people. At the bottom of the 




cliff it was slrcw 11 wilh ruins, cxidcntly lallen from above, and only 
portions of the houses were standing." 

Professor Powell says of these ruins and jicople : "These cliff- 



MARVELS OF RACE. l6l 

houses are usually placed on the most inaccessible cliffs ; sometimes 
the mouths of caves have been walled across, and tliere are many 
evidences to show their anxiety to secure defensible positions. Prob- 
ably the nomadic tribes were sweeping down upon them, and they 
resorted to these cliffs and caves for safety." 

Mr. Crofutt remarks : " The cliffs, on which are to be found many 
stone buildings, as shown in the illustration, are of all sizes and 
dimensions, varying in height from a few feet to over one thousand 
five hundred feet. They are scattered along the sides of the canons, 
sometimes only a few feet from the main walls, and in others several 
hundred yards away — isolated buttes. We are of the opinion they 
were all, at one time, a portion of the caiion walls, but by the action 
of the eroding elements for thousands of years, have become de- 
tached, and are now a puzzling problem for both the historian and 
geologist. 

"At one point, we are told, twelve miles west from the Ojo Verde, 
where several canons unite by the elimination of their dividing walls, 
and debouch into a comparatively open country, the view westward is 
over a wide extent of country ; in its general aspects a plain, but 
everywhere deeply cut with a tangled maze of caiions, and thickly 
set with towers, castles, and spires of most varied and striking forms 
-;-the most wonderful monuments of erosion that eyes ever beheld. 
Near the Dicsa stand detached portions of it of every possible form, 
from broad, flat tables to slender cones, crowned with pinnacles of 
the massive sandstone which form the perpendicular faces of the 
canon walls. These castellated buttes are from one thousand to one 
thousand five hundred feet in height, and no language is adequate 
to convey a just idea of the strange and impressive scenery formed 
by their grand and varied outlines. In some localities the surface 
is diversified by columns, spires, castles, and battlemented towers, of 
colossal, but often beautiful proportions, closely resembling elaborate 
structures of art, but in effect far surpassing the most imposing 
monuments of human skill. In other places are long lines of spires 
of white stone, standing on red bases, thousands in number, but so 
slender as to recall the most delicate carving in ivory or the fairy 
architecture of some Gothic cathedral, many of which were upwards 
of five hundred feet in height. On the summit of many of these 
wonderful towers are stone buildings, as represented in the accom- 
panying illustration." 

We have not space to represent the remarkable ruins of ancient 
races which Mr. Jackson found in New Mexico. We can only say. 



I62 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



in addition to what was said on a previous page about mammoth 
ruins, that Mr. Jackson found ruins of buildings as large as any at 
Washington except the Capitol. 

"One of these, the 'Pueblo del Arroya,' has wings one hundred 
and thirty-five feet in length, and the western wall of the court is 
two hundred and sixty-eight feet. Facing the centre of the court 
are three circular cstiifas, one of thirty-seven feet in diameter and 
three stories in height. Another, the ' Pueblo Chettro Kettle,' is 
four hundred and forty feet long and two hundred and fifty feet wide, 






^^ISH^S^ 



GDDr 
nnn 

ODD 
DDD 







^y 



••---'I 




\ 



mm 

©©ig[ 






v^S^ 



iced de cc/idre4 

GROUND PLAN OF THE PUEBLO BONITO IN THE CHACO CANON 



toA de e&ndreA 



and presents the remains of four stories. The logs forming the 
second floor extend through the walls a distance of six feet, and prob- 
ably at one time supported a balcony on the shady side of the house. 
In the wall running around three sides of the building nine hundred 
and thirty-five feet in length and forty feet in height, there were 
more than two million pieces of stone for the outer surface of the 
outer wall alone. This surface multiplied by the stones of the oppo- 
site surface, and also by the stones of the interior or transverse lines 
of masonry, would give a total of thirty million pieces in three hun- 
dred and fifteen thousand cubic feet of wall. These millions of 
pieces had to be quarried and put in position ; the timbers were 



MARl'ELS OF RACE. 1 63 

brought from a great distance, and considering the vastness of the 
work and the amount of labor and time that must have been ex- 
pended, these buildings may well be compared with the most famous 
works of what is so wrongly called the Old World." 

The Pueblo Bonito is another of the mammoth buildings dis- 
covered. It is five hundred and forty-four feet long, and three hun- 
dred and fourteen wide. It has a capacious inside court divided into 
nearly equal parts by a row of cstufas. Mr. Jackson has restored this 
pueblo to what he supposes to have been its original appearance, and 
has furnished the ground plan shown on the preceding page. 

The ruins are in such confusion that it is impossible to tell the 
exact number of rooms this structure contained. It must have con- 
tained more than the Pueblo of Pintado ; and one hundred and fifty 
were counted in the latter. It would not be extravagant to say that 
the Pueblo Bonito contamed two hundred rooms. The drawing gives 
a good idea of the form and magnitude of the building. 

Lieutenant Simpson, of the United States Survey Corps, has done 
a good thing by furnishing the illustration opposite, whereby the 
reader can understand the form and magnitude of an ancient pueblo, 
without the least doubt that here was the abode of an enterprising 
people centuries ago. 

The Abbe Dominech is of the opinion that these ruins are of 
Toltec origin ; and that the buildings were erected in the twelfth 
century. He says : "All these towns are so ancient that no Indian 
traditions of the present races make any mention of them. The 
banks of the Rio Verde and Salinas abound in ruins of stone dwell- 
ings and fortifications which certainly belong to a more civilized 
people than the Indians of New Mexico. They are found in the 
most fertile valleys, where traces of former cultivation and of im- 
mense canals for artificial irrigation are visible. The solidly built 
walls of these structures are twenty or thirty yards in length, by 
forty or fifty feet in height ; few of the houses are less than three 
stories, while all contain small openings for doors and windows, as 
well as loop-holes for defence from attacks." 

The Abbe continues his observations, and accounts for the extinc- 
tion of these ancient races, as follows : — 

"These vast monuments of New Mexico and Arizona are known 
to but few travellers ; consequently but few writers have speculated 
about their origin. Certain it is that all the pueblos of this wilder- 
ness are of an incontestable homogeneous character ; they are the 
work of a great people, of an intelligent nation, whose civilization 



1 64 



MAKrELS Of THE NEW II EST. 




was far sui)cri()r to that of the actual tiilxs l^ut the ciiKstion is, 
what became of this vast population who Ikinc left tlie huid c()\'ered 
with such numerous and wonderful constructions ? 



MARVELS OF RACE. 1 65 

" It is known that all agglomerations of men and families, on 
settling in a new land, build their dwellings in wooded parts, or near 
streams, in order to secure these indispensable elements. Many of 
this population were suddenly deprived of wood and water. 

" Perpetual droughts followed the clearing of the woods, compel- 
ling the inhabitants of high plateaus to emigrate into the plains ; 
when the rain failed, the wells and cisterns dried up, and the horrors 
of thirst drove the people from their abodes. Both rivers and their 
sources dried up. . . . 

" On the other hand, the soil of these regions is often covered 
with agate, jaspar, chalcedony, petrified trees, and masses of arana- 
ceous lava, which, descending from the hills, absorb the water of 
creeks and their sources, fill up the beds of streams, and render lands 
barren and dry which at one time were watered and fertile. 

" When these phenomena take place, the people that dwell in the 
country are naturally compelled to flee from these newly made des- 
erts, which become the abodes of sickness, famine, and death, and go 
to seek a more favored land. These compulsory emigrations must 
have been frequent, to judge from the traces the population have left 
behind ; notwithstanding, the ranks of the emigrants must have been 
fearfully thinned by exposure, hardships, and misery. . . . 

" The Zuiiis and other tribes still dwell in pueblos similar to 
these we have described ; and it is probable that to their ancestors 
the construction of these gigantic edifices ought to be attributed." 

The lofty towers of El Moro are called Inscription Rock because 
they are covered with strange characters, carved by a people who 
were familiar with them centuries ago. Travellers, too, carved their 
names thereon nearly a hundred years before the Pilgrims landed at 
Plymouth. In " 1526" Don Joseph de Bazemzellos, whoever he may 
have been, inscribed his name on this wonderful rock. In "1629" 
Juan Gonzales carved his name there. Before he came, in 1606, a 
messenger " passed by the place with despatches." And later still, 
on "September 28, 1736," Don Martini de Cochea wrote his name 
there. What business brought travellers there three hundred and 
fifty years ago, and more, the curious only may conjecture. The 
mystery becomes more mysterious in consequence of these facts, 
and the rock more of a marvel, especially when we consider that 
these travellers found the original inscriptions there, and may have 
been carved thereon five hundred or a thousand years before. 

Thus, in connection with the cave and cliff dwellings are found 
numerous hieroglyphics, or picture-writing, painted or engraved on 



i66 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

,iili|liil!llljli'yillMii(J!iiiii!!,,iil';li,^i)liliiihili)|ii,iiiiui!iiM,ii;!^i,ii|,,.^^ 




rocks, supposed to be the work <.t dui dudi..., oi some other 
prehistoric people. That those especially cut in the rock are very 
ancient cannot be doubted. That they were engraved by men of 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



[67 



more or less intelligence and ambition is equally manifest. Holmes 
says : "The work on some of the larger groups of inscriptions must 
have been one of immense labor, and must owe its completion to 
strong and enduring motives. With a very few exceptions, the en- 
graving bears undoubted evidence of age." As there is no figure of 
a horse among them, it is presumed that they antedate the introduc- 
tion of that useful animal into the country. 

The following is a good illustration of the rock inscriptions that 
appear in different parts of the New West : — 



■^\ «^ ^:^ ^=^.4 








ROCK INSCRIPTIONS. 



Mr. Holmes's conclusion about the ruins considered is as follows : — 
"As to situation, they may be classified under three heads: (i) 
lowland or agricultural settlements ; (2) cave-dwellings ; and (3) cliff- 
houses or fortresses. 

"Those of the first class are chiefly on the river bottoms, in close 
proximity to water, in the very midst of the most fertile lands, and 
located without reference to security or means of defence. 



1 68 MARVELS OF THE A'Eli' WEST. 

"Those of the second are in the vichiity of agricultural lands, but 
built in excavations in low bluff faces of the Middle Crustaceous 
shales. The sites are chosen, also, I imagine, with reference to secu- 
rity ; while the situation of the cliff-houses is chosen totally with 
reference to security and defence, — built high upon the steep and 
inaccessible cliffs, and having the least possible degree of conven- 
ience to field or water. 

" As to use, the position for the most part determines that. The 
lowland ruins are the remains of agricultural settlements, built and 
occupied much as similar villages and dwellings would be occupied 
by peaceful and unmolested peoples of to-day. The cave-dwellers, 
although they may have been of the same tribe and contemporaneous, 
probably built with reference to their peaceable occupations as well 
as to defence ; and it is impossible to say whether or not they made 
these houses their constant dwelling-places. The cliff-houses could 
only have been used as places of refuge and defence. During seasons 
of invasion and war, families were probably sent to them for security, 
while the warriors defended their property or went forth to battle ; 
and one can readily imagine that, when the hour of total defeat came, 
they serv^ed as a last resort for a desperate and disheartened people." 

This view of the cliff-dwellers is confirmed by the fact that " corn- 
rooms," "bean-rooms," "work-rooms," and "fire-rooms," or kitchens, 
were found in many dwellings. The presence of corn and beans, 
together with the remains of utensils, denoted the use of the 
apartments. 

Another factor in the solution of this problem concerning the 
ancient races, is the existence of pottery throughout the whole 
region where ruins have been discovered and examined. It has been 
found in such quantities and variety as to fill explorers with wonder. 
Mr. Holmes says : "The study of the fragmentary ware found about 
the ruins is very interesting, and its immense quantity is a constant 
matter of wonder. On one occasion, while encamped near the foot 
of the Mancos Canon, I undertook to collect all fragments of vessels 
of manifestly different designs within a certain space ; and, by select- 
ing pieces having peculiarly marked rims, I was able to say, with cer- 
tainty, that within ten feet square there were fragments of fifty-five 
different vessels. In shape these vessels have been so varied that 
few forms known to civilized art could not be found. Fragments of 
bowls, cups, jugs, pitchers, urns, and vases in indefinite variety may 
be obtained in nearly every heap of dSris.'"' That the makers well 
understood the decorative art, is evident from the great variety of 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



169 



beautiful patterns discox-cred. Mr. Jackson says that one " can see 
at a glance the proficiency they had attained in its manufacture and 
ornamentation, displaying an appreciation of proportion, and a fer- 





VASES FOUND ON THE BANKS OF THE SAN JUAN. 

tility of invention in decoration, that makes us almost doubt their 
ante-Columbian origin ; but, nevertheless, without going into the 
details, we believe them to antedate the Spanish occupancy of this 
country, and to owe none of their excellence to European influences, 
being, very likely, an indigenous product." 

This singular people must have possessed original ideas about 
ornamentation and convenience, judging from their domestic utensils. 
The cuts on the next page show two of their unique drinking-vessels, 
one representing a man on horseback. The place for drinking ap- 
pears to have been in the top of the hat. We can scarcely conceive 
of a more awkward drinking-vessel to handle, nor one of more origi- 
nal design. It was artistically wrought and beautifully painted. 

Whether the tail con- 
stituted the handle or 
not does not fully ap- 
pear. So complicated 
an affair must have 
been handled most 
conveniently by the 
legs. 

The other vessel is 

nearly as curious, and 

somewhat more dififi- 

FRAGMENTs OF POTTERY. cult to Understand. 




I70 



MARVELS OF THE NEW IVEST. 



Whether the bottle is filled and emptied through the aperture on the 
back or hinder extremity is a question, though we suppose it is the 
one on the back. The reader, however, is permitted to differ from us. 
The above must suffice as a sample of the pottery found through- 
out the ancient ruins. Figures of birds, beasts, reptiles, and animals 
are used in decorating, together with the most fantastic forms that 
imagination can invent. The figures on some were painted ; on 
others, carved or raised. 

Implements of husbandry were found among the ruins in many 
places ; also stone hand-mills for grinding corn. Arrow-points were 
numerous about the cliff-houses ; and their position indicated that 
they were hurled against the habitations by an enemy. "It is re- 
markable that, except for the cop- 
per rings found at Pecos, not a 
weapon or ornament of metal has 
been found. Were such articles 
carried off by the Indians, or were 
the early inhabitants of the peu- 





A DRINKING-VESSEL FROM ZUNI 



A DRINKING-VESSEL FROM OLD ZUNI. 



bios of New Mexico and Colorado ignorant of iron and bronze .'' This 
latter hypothesis seems probable, for the roughly squared beams 
supporting their home appear to have been shaped by stone imple- 
ments." 

The remains of human beings have frequently been found among 
the ruins described. In 1859 ^^e fragment of a human skull was 
found associated with the bones of the mastodon, in the auriferous 
gravel of Table Mountain, California, our hundred a)id lii^hty feet 
below the surface of the earth. This discovery has been discussed 
in all the learned societies of this country and Europe. In 1866 
Professor Whitney, Director of the Geological Survey of California, 
discovered a human skull nearly complete, as appears from the j^hoto- 
graph of it on the following page, one hundred and thirty feet deep 
in the earth. 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



Professor Whitney announced his discovery to Mr. Deser, in the 
followiaig words : " My chief interest now centres in the human 
remains, and in the works from the hand of man that have been 
found in the Tertiary strata of Cahfornia, the existence of which I 
have been able to verify during the last few months. Evidence has 
now accumulated to such an extent that I feel no hesitation in 
saying that we have unequivocal proofs of the existence of man on 
the Pacific coasts prior to the glacial period, prior to the period of 
the mastodon and the elephant, at a time when animal and vegetable 
life were entirely different from what they are now, and since which 

a vertical erosion of from two 
^^^ to three thousand feet of hard 

rock strata has taken place." 
We have simply glanced 
at the subject of ancient 
races on the Pacific coast. 
If we have succeeded in sat- 
isfying the reader that the 
New West was inhabited by 
man prior to the landing of 
he Pilgrims, and even prior 
t(,) the discovery of this con- 
tinent by Columbus, our ob- 
ject has been accomplished ; 
our first marvel of races has 
been established. We have 
seen enough, surely, to sat- 
isfy us that there is foundation for the legendary tale which Mr. 
Jackson's guide in Southwestern Colorado told him, and which Mr. 
Ingersol published in the New York Trib/ii/c, as follows : — 

" F'ormerly, the aborigines inhabited all this country we had been 
over as far west as the head-waters of the San Juan, as far north as 
the Rio Doures, west some distance into Utah, and south and south- 
west throughout Arizona and on down into Mexico. They had lived 
there from time immemorial, — since the earth was a small island, 
which augmented as its inhabitants multiplied. They cultivated the 
valley, fashioned whatever utensils and tools they needed very neatly 
and handsomely out of clay and wood and stone, not knowing any of 
the useful metals ; built their homes and kept their flocks and herds 
in the fertile river-bottoms, and worshipped the sun. They were an 
eminently peaceful and prosperous people, living by agriculture rather 




PHOTOGRAPH OF A HUMAN SKULL 
Found one hundred and thirty feet deep in the earth. 



172 MARVELS OF THE NEW II EST. 

than by the chase. About a thousand years ago, however, they were 
visited by savage strangers from the north, whom they treated hos- 
pitably. Soon these visits became more frequent and annoying. 
Then their troublesome neighbors — ancestors of the present Utes — 
began to forage upon them, and, at last, to massacre them and devas- 
tate their farms ; so, to save their lives at least, they built houses 
high upon the cliffs, where they could store food and hide away till 
the raiders left. But one summer the raiders did not go back to the 
mountains as the people expected, but brought their families with 
them and settled down. So, driven from their homes and lands, 
starving in their little niches on the high cliffs, they could only steal 
away during the night, and wander across the cheerless ujilands. To 
one who has travelled these steppes, such a flight seems terrible, and 
the mind hesitates to picture the suffering of the sad fugitives. 

" At the cristone they halted, and probably found friends, for the 
rocks and caves are full of the nests of these human wrens and 
swallows. Here they collected, erected stone fortifications and 
watch-towers, dug reservoirs in the rocks to hold a supply of water, 
which in all cases is precarious in this latitude, and once more stood 
at bay. Their foes came, and for one long month fought and were 
beaten back, and returned day after day to the attack as merciless 
and inevitable as the tide. Meanwhile, the families of the defenders 
were evacuating and moving south, and bravely did their protectors 
shield them till they were all safely a hundred miles away. The 
besiegers were beaten back and went away. But the narrative tells 
us that the hollows of the rocks were filled to the brim with the 
mingled blood of conc|uerors and conquered, and red \eins of it ran 
down into the canon, it was such a victory as the\' could not afford 
to gain again, and they were glad when the long fight was over to 
follow their wives and little ones to the south. There, in the deserts 
of Arizona, on well-nigh unapproachable, isolated bluffs, they built new 
towns, and their few descendants, the Moquis, live in them to this 
day, preserving more carefully and purely the history and veneration 
of their forefathers than their skill or wisdom. It was from one of 
their old men that this traditional sketch was obtained." 



PUEBLOS. 

The Pueblo, Zuhi, and Moquis Indians are descendants of the 

cliff-dwellers. Their dwelling.s, occupations, dress, customs, habits, 

and worship all bear witness to this fact. Hence, some under- 



MARVELS OF RACE. 1/3 

standing- of these tribes is necessary to confirm previous statements 
concerning ancient races. One writer states the genealogy as fol- 
lows, speaking of Arizona : — 

" Arizona has a history that has never been written. It is only 
told by the inscribed rocks, the empty irrigating canals, the ruins of 
populous towns, vacant cliff-dwellings, deserted pueblos, and broken 
pottery found in so many parts of the Territory. Before the European 
saw this continent two races had lived and died in Arizona. Near 
Cosnino, on the Atlantic & Pacific Railroad, there is a canon two 
thousand feet deep, which is one hundred yards wide at the bottom 
and three hundred at the top. Along the walls ledges project out- 
ward from ten to twenty feet. Between these, seven tiers of cliff- 
dwellings can be traced. It is two hundred feet from the bottom of 
the caiion to the lower tier. The front and side walls are of solid 
masonry and are yet well preserved. How many thousands of years 
have elapsed since the cliffs were occupied no man can know. 
Between that age and the white man came the race who built the 
canals and farmed the valleys. Perhaps the most extensive of their 
ruins are at Casa Grande, in the Gila Valley, six miles below Florence 
and five miles south of the river. When first found by the white 
man, some three hundred and fifty years ago, the largest building 
was four stories high and had walls six feet thick. A hundred years 
ago one house still remained which was four hundred and twenty by 
two hundred and sixty feet. The walls are of a concrete made of 
mud and gravel, held together by a hard cement. The inner surface 
was coated by this cement and is hard and smooth to-day. The ruin 
is now but fifty by thirty feet and will soon be a mere mound. In 
the \icinity there is an irrigating canal which has been followed to 
the Gila, forty miles distant. This proves that an immense body of 
land was cultivated by this people. In all parts of the Territory are 
ruins of a similar character, though many are of stone. It is impos- 
sible to say positively just who those people were and where they 
went. 

"The cliff-dwellers disappeared, and then came the men who dug 
the irrigating canals. It is highl}' probable that this semi-civilized 
people were driven out by the marauding Apaches whom the Span- 
iards found in Arizona. We only know that the three races had 
made this their home ere the Spaniards came." 

" Pueblo " is the Spanish name for town or village. There are 
twenty-six of these Indian pueblos in New Mexico and Arizona, nine- 
teen of them in the former Territory and seven in the latter. Nine 



174 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




of them arc on the line of the Denver & Rio Graiule Railway, or 
near by it, viz. : Taos, Picario, San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildofonso, 
Pojunt^uc, Iranibc, Cuyamanquc, and Tcsuguc. Cortoz ft)iin(,l theru 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



175 



here three hundred and fifty years ago, much more civilized than the 
nomadic tribes around them, as they are to-day. They cultivate the 




soil and live in fortified towns or villages, as represented by the illus- 
tration. Their dwellings are made of adobes. The cut gives an 



1/6 MARVELS OF THE XEW WEST. 

excellent view of the Laguna inicblo, in which the presence of ladders 
indicates to the reader that the dwellings are entered at the top. 
Adobes make impregnable walls. In the Mexican War, General 
Scott said " that the ordinary adobe house was a pretty good fortress. 
Entering them at the top, and then hauling up the ladders, furnished 
inhabitants with the best security against their enemies." 

(icnerally a square, or plaza, is found in the centre of the pueblos, 
the habitation being built around it. All pueblos are very much 
alike. The walls of the buildings are from two to four feet thick, 
and the roofs are constructed of timbers covered with dirt a foot or 
more thick. One who has examined them closely says : " Many 
houses are two, and some even four and five stories, or rather ter- 
races, in height, each successive story being set back some twelve 
or fifteen feet from the side-walls of the next story below. The 
usual manner of entering these dwellings is by ascending a ladder 
outside the building to the roof, and through a hole descending to 
the interior by another ladder ; though some, as a very modern 
improvement, have doors cut through the side-walls. This method 
was doubtless adopted as a defensive measure iluring troublesome 
times, when it was often necessary to convert the ])uebU) into a for- 
tress from which to repel hostile invasions." 

The Pueblo of Taos furnishes an illustration of what the writer 
just quoted means by "terraces." We believe that "terraces" is the 
word rather than "stories." Some explorers describe them as houses 
built in tiers one story high, but on three, four, and five terraces, (;ne 
above another ; and they call the whole cluster together, "community 
house." 

The Pueblo of Taos is considered one of the most interesting of 
the whole twenty-six. It consists of two communistic houses, each 
one five stories high ; or, rather, built on five terraces, one above 
the other. There are seven circular mounds built around the pueblo, 
supposed to be sweating-chambers, or some sort of Turkish bath, 
which this singular people used. One of them was used for a coun- 
cil chamber, without doubt ; and there, too, their religious rites were 
performed. 

Apart from the town, and yet in close proximitv to it, are the ruins 
of a Catholic cathedral, i)resenting to the tourist a very interesting 
subject for examination and study. It must have been a struc- 
ture of considerable magnificence, especially for that time antl 
that people. The ruins indicate a building of large proportions and 
very substantial. Architecture must have been one of the arts with 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



177 



which the inhabitants were familiar. Pottery was another ; proofs 
of which lie scattered among the ruins everywhere. 

On top of many of the houses is the adobe oven ; though it often 
stands by itself apart from the house. The illustration represents 
the latter. 

Professor Zahm has personally inspected several pueblos, and 
therefore speaks authoritatively of the houses of this curious people, 
as well as of the form and durability of their dwellings. He says : — 
•' One of the first things to attract the attention of the visitor on 
entering their houses, is the large number of glass mirrors that adorn 
the walls. I remember counting no fewer than seven — and good- 
sized ones they were — in one room. An object of special interest, 
too, in every pueblo, is the estufa, or council chamber. The one in 

Isleta is a circular struc- 
ture of adobe without 
windows, forty feet in di- 
ameter, and fifteen feet in 
height, with only one en- 
trance, and that through 
the roof. The church is 
quite a large building, and 
in a good state of preser- 
vation. Like all the other 
buildings in the town, it 
is made of adobe, and has 
walls six feet thick. 

" The pueblos of San 
Juan, Taos, San Domingo, Zuni, Acoma, and others, throughout 
New Mexico and Arizona, are, in appearance, essentially the same 
as that of Isleta. In Isleta, however, the houses are scarcely ever 
more than one story high, and are entered by doors in the side, 
wliilst the houses of other pueblos are frequently several stories 
in height, to which entrance is obtained by ascending ladders, and 
passing down through a hole in the roof. Men, women, and chil- 
dren, cats and dogs, may be seen rapidly running up and down these 
ladders when going into and coming out of these curious dwell- 
ings. 

" It is said that these houses were constructed in this fashion to 
serve the purpose of fortresses, in case of an attack from an enemy. 
When attacked, the inhabitants raise all the ladders, thereby cutting 
off all possibility of entrance to their habitations ; and, as they are 




ADOBE OVEN. 



178 



MARVELS OF THE NEIV WEST. 



generally well provisioned, they are prepared to withstand a long siege. 
But you may say that such structures may do well enough against 
a shower of Indian arrows, but that they would never withstand bul- 
lets and cannon-balls. The experience, however, in the Mexican war 
of 1846, will tell you differently. If what we know of resisting power 
of ordinary earthworks were not sufficient to convince us of the 
strength of the thick adobe walls of Pueblo dwellings, the actual tests 
made, time and again, of their strength should remove all doubt 
about the matter. It has been found, as a matter of fact, that a wall 




THE OLDEST HOUSE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



of adobes will withstand the batterings of shot and shell almost, if 
not fully, as well as the rampart of cotton-bales that stood General 
Jackson in such good stead in the battle of New Orleans. 

" In this connection I would also make an observation regarding 
the durability of these structures of adobe, the material of which, until 
lately, nearly all the buildings of the Southwest were constructed. It 
might be thought, at first sight, that they could not withstand the 
r.ction of the elements for more than a few weeks, or months at most, 
and that the first rain-storm would wash them away. Such, however, 
is far from being the case. The oldest house in the United States is 
built of adobe ; and although it has been standing at least since 1540, 
it is still inhabited, and bids fair to last a century more, and probably 
lon<:er." 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



179 



Professor Zahm says the oldest house in the United States is built 
of adobe. We are able to furnish a view of it eni;raved from one of 
Jackson's photographs. It is several hundred years old — an old 
dwelling when the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock. 

This was one of the first habitations erected in Santa Vh, no 
doubt. Originally it was destitute of door or window in the side and 
end — these have been cut within a century. Santa Fe was a town 
of importance in 1550, when it was settled by the Spaniards. Based 
on this fact was the " Tertio-Millennial Anniversary" there, in 1883, 
when the place was visited by representatives from every State and 
Territory, and from other nations as well. The appearance of the 
building indicates that it was standing when the Spaniards took 
possession of the place. 




— ^f ^ 



"THE ADOBE PALACE." 
Old Government House at Santa Fe, erected 1600. 



Having seen the oldest adobe house, it may be well to exhibit the 
best one. So far as we know, "The Adobe Palace" of Santa Y(t is 
the best ; and it was erected in 1600, so that its age is a matter of 
considerable interest. It was built for the first governor when Santa 
Fe, which is the oldest town in the United States, was the capital 
and centre of the Pueblo Kingdom. It was named Palacio del 
Gobernador ; and it was occupied by the first governor — Pedro de 
Peralto — in 1600. " The building itself has a history as full of pathos 



l8o MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

and stirring incident as the ancient fort of St. Augustine, and is 
older than that venerable pile. It had been the palace of the 
Pueblos immemorially before the holy name Santa Fe was given in 
baptism of blood by the Spanish conquerors ; palace of the Mexicans 
after they broke away from the crown ; and palace ever since its 
occupation by El Gringo. In the stormy scenes of the seventeenth 
century it withstood several sieges ; was repeatedly lost and won, as 
the white man or the red held the victory." ^ 

When the United States Government took possession of the 
town, in the late war of the Rebellion, General Lew Wallace oc- 
cupied this palace ; and there Mrs. Wallace wrote her valuable arti- 
cles concerning the Pueblos. The latter were loyal to our govern- 
ment. 

We have said that in nearly all the pueblos, the adobe buildings 
were erected around a plaza, or park. It was so in Santa Fe. The 
beautiful plaza, with adobe houses in good condition built around it, 
appears as when Coronado passed through the pueblo almost three 
hundred and fifty years ago. During all this time little change has 
been wrought in Santa Fe, except what our Christian civilization has 
made within a few years. The ancient part of the town is substan- 
tially the same. It is a very interesting scene, — the ancient and 
modern civilizations side by side, as it is, not only in Santa Fe, but 
as we saw it in other parts of New Mexico. A terse writer says : — 

" Here are three civilizations side by side. The Pueblo Indians, 
the descendants of the powerful Aztecs, present the aboriginal civil- 
ization, just as Cabeza de Vaca found it three hundred and fifty years 
ago. Their houses, manners, and customs are the same now as then, 
and theirs is the oldest type of American civilization of which we 
have any knowledge. Then, there is the Spanish population. Prac- 
tically cut off from the rest of the world for hundreds of years, they 
present in a crystallized form the life of the seventeenth century in 
the latter part of the nineteenth. These people present to-day the 
generosity, hospitality, and high-sj^irited chivalric feeling of the old 
days of Castile. The quiet, easy life of the Pueblo and the Spaniard 
ran smoothly side by side with no perceptible change, secure in the 
isolation of distance, till suddenly the new civilization of tlie nine- 
teenth century, borne along by the swift and irresistible flight of 
steam and electricity. ' invaded and overran that hitherto silent and 
voiceless empire.' A recent traveller through tliat country expresses 
it thus: 'The old order, surprised suddenly, has not had time to fly 

1 Mrs. Susan !•:. Wnllace. 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



or to change, and stands mute in the presence of the new. There 
stands the sun-browned herdsman, watching his flocks in the valley ; 
here the Mexican woman, with her shawl over her head, looks shyly 
from the door of her adobe hut, just as she has looked for all time, 
while the locomotive dashes by them, and the telephone wire is 
strung over their heads to communicate with ranches forty miles in 
the interior. There has never been anything like it in the world 
before.' " 




Since we are upon this subject, a view of the oldest church in 
America will be apropos. It is located at Santa Fe, and, like the 
oldest house, is built of adobes. It has stood for three centuries, 
and, though the elements and time have demolished a ])ortion of its 
tower, the interior is well preserved. There is an oil ]:)ainting of the 
Annunciation on one of the interior walls bearing the date "a.d. 
1287." It is thought to be one of the oldest paintings in the world, 
The cut gives a correct representation of the structure. 



l82 MARl-HLS OF THE NEW 11 EST. 

Modern civilization has created a great contrast by erecting 
churches with spires ; a hotel that cost one hundred thousand dollars ; 
a hospital costing ninety thousand dollars ; the Santa Fe Academy, 
together with the railroad, telegraph, and telej^hone — enough to 
startle the ancient race living there by appealing to their supersti- 
tious notions. 

The Pueblo Tezuque is but eight miles from Santa Fe, and Mrs. 
Wallace, from whom we have quoted, made herself familiar with the 
manners, habits, history, and habitations of its people. She found 
everything just as described by Coronado's secretary in 1541. The 
women wore the same style of dresses their ancestors wore three 
hundred years ago. The fashion had not changed even once. Mrs. 
Wallace gives such a vivid description of one of the girls as to throw 
much light upon the character of the race. We quote her description. 

"There passes my window at this moment a young Indian girl 
from Tezuque, a village eight miles north of Santa Fe. Like the 
beloved one of the Canticles, she is dark but comely, and without 
saddle or bridle sits astride her little dunv in cool defiance of city 
prejudice. Always gayly dressed, with ready nod and a quick smile, 
showing the whitest teeth, we call her the Bright Alfarata, in memory 
of the sweet singer of the blue Juniata ; though the interpreter says 
her true name is Po^■-^•e, the Rising Moon. Neither of us under- 
stands a word of the other's language, so I beckoned to her. She 
springs to the ground with the supple grace of an antelope, and 
comes to me, holding out a thin, slender hand, the tint of Florentine 
bronze, seats herself on the window-sill, and, in the shade of the 
portal we converse in what young lovers are pleased to call eloquent 
silence. Her donkey will not stray, but lingers patiently about, like 
the lamb he resembles in face and temper, and nibbles the scant 
'grass which fringes the acequia. I think his mistress must be a lady 
of high degree, perhaps the cacique s daughter, she wears such a 
holiday air, unusual with Indian women, and is so richly adorned 
with beads of strung periwinkles. She wears loose moccasins, 'shoes 
of silence,.' which cannot hide the delicate and shapclv outline of her 
feet, leggins of deer-skin, a skirt reaching below the knee, and a 
cotton chemise. Her head has no covering but glossy jet-black hair, 
newly washed with amole, banged in front, and ' is tricked off behind 
the ears in the shape of a wheel which resembles the handle of a 
cup,' — the distinguishing fashion of maidenhood now as it was more 
than three hundred years ago. Tied by a scarlet cord across her 
forehead is a pendant of opaline shell, the lining of a muscle shell, 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



183 



doubtless the very ornament called precious pearl, and opal which 
dazzled the eyes and stirred the covetous hearts of the first conqnis- 
tadorcs. Our Pueblo belle wraps about her drapery such as Caste- 
nada's maiden never dreamed of, — a flowing mantle which has 
followed the march of progress. Thrown across the left shoulder 
and drawn under her bare and beautiful right arm is a handsome red 
blanket, with the letters U. S. woven in the centre." 







'^^^^!:^f^T\^^rvrt^ 




r^% ]i\'i}^m 



'^i.m 



PUEBLO AND CART 



The above represents another pueblo, furnished more particularly 
here to show the sort of cart which the Indians use. The wheels 
are sawed from logs, as has been the custom from time immemorial, 
affording a very bungling vehicle in comparison with the modern cart 
of civilization. Carts were not used at all until within si.xty years. 
The <^//rr^ played the part of both horse and cart. " Packing " the 
animal with his load was done by experts. Not only wood, but 
almost every sort of merchandise, was carried in this primitive way. 
All kinds of utensils which this people use were equally primitive. 
The plough was little better than a crooked stick, similar to the plough 
of Palestine. Planting and reaping were accomplished with imple- 
ments equally ancient. And it is substantially so now. We saw 
these things again and again in New Mexico four years ago. 



1 84 



MARVELS OF THE XEW WEST. 



The btirro has proved himself to be a very useful animal, not only 
to Indian people described, but to pioneers generally in the far West. 
What the elephant is to the desert plains of the East, that has been 




PRIMITIVE AGRICULTURt 



the burro to the Rocky Mountain region of the West. Strong, obedi- 
ent, and reliable, he submits to his master in doing very hard work, 
climbing where horses can never go. He is small, about the size of 
a very large Newfoundland dog, perhaps a little larger on the aver- 
age ; but he has more strength and endurance than his size indicates. 
On the whole he is a funny little fellow. 

Among the Indian race in question we find nothing like the 
wheelbarrow, so useful to the laboring class of modern times. The 
cut on the following page is the nearest approach to it. 

We have now devoted as much 
space as we have to spare to the 
Pueblo, and must pass to the Zuni 
and Moquis, whose claim of direct 
connection with the cliff-dwellers 
is even more satisfactory than that 
of the Pueblos. We will add, how- 
ever, on the following page, a sketch 
of another pueblo, — that of Acoma, 
— on account of its peculiarities. 

The pueblo of Acoma is built 
upon a cliff three hundred and fifty 
feet high, and can be reached only 
by clambering up the debris of fal- 
len rocks, and then following the steps cut in the solid rock up to 
immense timbers that have been placed near the top. Should these 




BURRO LOADED WITH WOOD. 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



185 




AN ANCIENT WHEELBARROW, 



timbers be precipitated to the base of the cHff, it would be impossible 

for man to reach the dwellings. 

Mr. Cozzens says : " About two o'clock in the afternoon we came 

in sight of Acoma. It stands upon the top of a rock, at least three 

hundred and fifty feet above the 
surrounding plain, and seems 
from its situation to be almost 
impregnable. The pueblo can 
be reached only by means of a 
staircase, containing three 

HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FIVE 

STEPS, cut in the solid rock. 
At the upper end of this is a lad- 
der eighteen feet long, made 
from the trunk of a tree, in 
which notches have been cut for the feet. 

"The town is composed chiefly of blocks, containing sixty or 
seventy houses each, generally three stories in height. . . . The peo- 
ple seem to be industrious, frugal, and happy. We found them kind 
and hospitable, and anxious 
to do whatever might con- 
tribute to our comfort. 
Many of the women would 
not have been uncomely in 
appearance were it not for 
the fact that they padded 
their legs to an enormous 
size, thus rendering them 
anything but attractive. 

" The governor is chosen 
from the old men by uni- 
versal suffrage, the only 
qualification necessary be- 
ing wisdom. He holds his 
office during life, and pre- 
sides over the council, 
which is composed entirely acoma. 

of old men. The decision of this official is regarded as law in all 
matters. Next in rank is a war-captain, who arranges all companies 
and takes charge of every expedition. He also exercises supreme 
control over all the horses belonging to the pueblo. Then comes the 




1 86 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



treasurer, or fiscal chief, who has charge of the council house, church, 
etc., and who superintends all outlays for repairs, and exercises a 
supervisory power over all expenditures of whatever nature. The 
government of Acoma is in many respects similar to that of all the 
pueblos, and is universally regarded by those most deeply interested 
in its success, as a very beneficent one." ^ 

According to Coronado, Pecos, as represented below, was in ruins 
in 1540. Later the pueblo was rebuilt, and a church and convent 
provided ; and, two hundred years ago, the population exceeded two 
thousand. The town was built on an eminence, and was strongly 



■^' """.-^-r ~.-C\ 




fortified. Judging from its surroundings, the location was selected 
because it overlooked the country for many miles, and the approach 
of enemies could be discovered in season to put the inhabitants upon 
the defensive. 

Cozzens says: "The Indian legend is, that Montezuma built this 
pueblo himself, and with his own hands placed the sacred fire in the 
cstufa, at the same time warning his peo])le that when they allowed 
it to go out, death would come. Before he left them he took a tall tree, 
and, inverting it, planted it near the cstiifa, saying, if they did not 
])crmit the sacred flame to be extinguished until the tree fell, men 
with pale faces would come into the country from the east, and, over- 
running it, would drive their oppressors, the Spaniards, from the 
country, when he himself would return and build up his kingdom, the 

' Three \'ears in .\rizona and New Mexico. 



MARVELS OF RACE. 1 8/ 

earth should become fertile, and the mountains yield rich harvests of 
gold and silver. All of which predictions, these Indians claim, have 
been literally fulfilled." 

ZUNIS. 

We are fortunate in having the knowledge of this strange people 
which Frank H. Gushing has given to the public. Mr. Gushing was 
sent by the United States government, in 1879, to learn what he 
could of this tribe, which numbers two thousand. It was expected 
that he would accomplish his mission and return in about three 
months. But he has dwelt among this people nearly all the time 
since. Indeed, he found that it was quite impossible to learn what 
he desired without becoming a Zuiii himself. So he adopted their 
dress, mode of living, and methods of worship, in order to be admit- 
ted to their most secret conclaves. 

At first his presence was clearly annoying to them, especially to 
their rulers. He used his note-book and sketch-book freely, which 
seemed to play upon their superstitious notions. Evidently they 
wanted to destroy these. Mr. Gushing says : — 

"When I took my station on a house-top, sketch-books and colors 
in hand, I was surprised to see frowns and hear explosive, angry ex- 
postulations in every direction. As the day wore on this indignation 
increased, until at last an old, bushy-headed hag approached me, and 
scowling into my face made a grab at my book and pantomimically 
tore it to pieces. I was chagrined, but paid no attention to her, 
forced a good-natured smile, and continued my sketching. Discour- 
aged, yet far from satisfied, the natives made no further demonstra- 
tions." 

He made slow progress in getting into their good graces. The 
note-book and sketch-book proved an obstacle to a very intimate 
acquaintance. Mr. Gushing continues : — 

" I was determined not to give them up, but was desirous, so far 
as possible, of conciliating the Indians. I therefore began with the 
children. They would scamper up ladders and stand on the roof- 
tops as I passed, but for all that had a lively curiosity concerning 
me, and would shout to one another, • Is-ta-s/n, Me-lik-i-a ! ' — which 
I rightly divined was, 'Just look, the little American is coming!' 
I began carrying sugar and pretty trinkets in my pockets, and when- 
ever I could tempt some of them near with a lump of the rare deli- 
cacy, would pat them on the head and give them the pretty trinkets. 



1 88 MARl'ELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

or even take the less shy and dirty of them in my arms. I grew in 
their favor, and within a few days had a crowd of them always at my 
heels. The parents were delighted, and began to share the affection 
of their children. Nevertheless, the next time I sketched a dance, 
all this went for nothing. 

" Much discouraged, at last I determined to try living with the 
Indians. Accordingly, I moved books, papers, and blankets to the 
governor's house. On the dirt floor in one corner, I spread the 
blankets, and to the rafters slung a hammock. When the old chief 
came in that evening and saw that I had made myself at home, he 
shrugged his shoulders. 

" ' How long will it be before you go back to Washington } ' he 
attempted to ask. 

"'Two nn)nths,' I signified. 

" ' Tu/i ! ' (damn) was his only exclamation, as he climbed to the 
roof and disappeared through the sky-hole." 

Zuiii town is situated in the desert part of New Mexico, on an 
eminence from which a good view of the surrounding plain is had. 
It is reached by going southwest from Fort Mingate across a spur of 
the Zufii Mountain, thence along the Rio Zuiii to Ojode Pescado. 
From the latter place it is a weary journey over scorching sands to 
Zuiii. The area of the town is about half a square mile, and streets 
are well laid out, running at right angles. The houses are built of 
adobe, one, two, three, and even six stories or terraces. Within a 
few years ground-doors have been cut in a few of the houses ; but 
the usual mode of entrance is by ladder to the second story, thence 
inside by steps up and down. Some of the dwellings have isinglass 
windows, and a few have doors hung on hinges. On each floor there 
are several apartments. 

Mr. Gushing describes his entrance into this cfueer town as 
follows : — 

" I chanced to meet, over toward the river, an Indian. He was 
bareheaded, his hair banged even with his eyebrows in front, and 
done up in a neat knot behind, with long locks hanging down either 
side. He wore a red shiit and white cotton pantalets, slitted at the 
sides from the knees downi so as to expose his bare legs, and raw- 
hide-soled moccasins. Strings of shell-beads around his neck, and a 
leather belt around his waist, into which were stuck a boomerang 
or two, completed his costume. Knitting-work in hand, he left his 
band of dirty white and black sheep and snuflling goats in charge 
of a wise-looking, grizzled-faced, bob-tailed mongrel cur, and came 




with a sort of shutiHinij,- cl(;g-trot toward the road, calling- out, ' Hai 
hai I ' and extending his hand with a most good-natured smile. 
" I shook the proffered hand warmly, and said, ' Zuiii ? ' 



IQO MARVELS OF THE iVEW 1 1 EST. 

"*E!' exclaimed the Indian, as he reverentially breathed on my 
hand and from his own, and then, with a nod of his head and a fling 
of his chin toward the still distant, smoky terraces, made his excla- 
mation more intelligible. 

" I hastened on wath all the speed I could scourge out of my obsti- 
nate, kicking mule, down the road to where the rivulet crossed it, and 
up again, nearer and nearer to the. strange structures. 

" Imagine numberless, long, box-shaped, adobe ranches, connected 
with one another in extended rows and squares, with others less and 
less numerous, piled up on them lengthwise and crosswise, in two, 
three, even six stories, each receding from the one below it like the 
steps of a broken stair-flight, — as it were, a gigantic pyramidal mud 
honey-comb with far outstretching base, — and you can gain a fair 
conception of the architecture of Zuiii. 

" Everywhere this structure bristled with ladder-poles, chimneys, 
and rafters. The ladders were heavy and long, with carved slab 
cross-pieces at the tops, and leaned at all angles against the roofs. 
The chimneys looked more like huge bamboo-joints than anything 
else I can compare them with, for they were made of bottomless 
earthen pots, set one upon the other and cemented together with 
mud, so that they stood up, like many-lobed, oriental spires, from 
every roof-top. Wonderfully like the holes in an ant-hill seemed the 
little windows and doorways which everywhere pierced the walls of 
this gigantic habitation ; and like ant-hills themselves seemed the 
curious little round-topped ovens, which stood here and there along 
these walls or on the terrace edges. 

" All round the town could be seen irregular, large and small 
adobe or dried-mud fences, inclosing gardens in which melon, inimp- 
kin, and squash vines, pepper-plants, and onions were most conspic- 
uous. Forming an almost impregnable belt nearer the village were 
numerous stock corrals of bare cedar posts and sticks. In some of 
these, burros, or little gray, white-nosed, black-shouldered donkeys 
were kept ; while many others, with front legs tied closely together, 
were nosing about over the refuse heaps. Bob-tailed curs of all 
sizes, a few swift-footed, worried-looking black hogs, some scrawny 
chickens, and many eagles, — the latter confined in wattled stick 
cages, diminutive corrals, in the corners and on the house-tops — 
made up the visible life about the place. 

" Not an Indian was anywhere to be seen, save on the topmost 
terraces of this strange city. There hundreds of them were congre- 
gated, gazing so intently down into one of the plazas beyond, that 



MARVELS OF RACE. I9I 

none of them observed my approach, until I had hastily dismounted, 
tied my mule to a corral post, climbed the refuse-strewn hill and two 
or three ladders leading up to the house-tops. The regular tJind, 
thud oi rattles and drums, the cadence of rude music which sounded 
more like the soughing of a storm-wind amid the forests of a moun- 
tain than the accompaniments of a dance, urged me forward, until I 
was suddenly confronted by forty or fifty of the men, who came 
rushing towards me with excited discussion and gesticulation. One 
of them approached and spoke something in Spanish, motioning me 
away ; but I did not understand him, so I grasped his hand and 
breathed on it as I had seen the herder do. Lucky thought ! The 
old man was pleased, smiled, breathed in turn on my hand, and then 
hastily addressed the others, who, after watching me with approving 
curiosity, gathered around to shake hands and exchange breaths, 
until I might have regarded myself the president, had not an uproar 
in the court attracted them all away ; all, save one, a young, cadav- 
erous-looking fellow with strange, monkey-like little eyes, who lin- 
gered behind and ventured : — 

" ' How-li-loo .' ' 

" ' Pretty well,' I replied. ' How are you } ' 

"'At's good,' said he; and this useful phrase he employed in 
every answer to my crowded queries, until I reluctantly concluded 
that it was the extent of his English." 

The people were engaged in a "sacred dance" when Mr. Gushing 
and his party arrived. They lost no time in pitching their tent and 
going into camp. They had scarcely got settled when two or three 
Indians came into the tent and squatted on their haunches near the 
entrance. Mr. Gushing gave them cigarettes, which they smoked as 
if they enjoyed them. They were great talkers, and jolly. Later, 
the gnbernador, Palowahtiwa, called. He was the chief or governor. 
Several sub-chiefs and the herald of the town came with him. A 
friendly interview was enjoyed, and the governor retired, professing 
high regard for "Americans." 

Mr. Gushing describes Zuiii by saying : " Every schoolboy sketches 
a map of the Zuni basin, when he attempts with uncertain stroke to 
draw on his slate a cart-wheel. The city itself represents the jagged 
hub, whence the radiating, wavering traits form the spokes, and the 
surrounding mesas and hills the rim. Let some crack across the 
slate and through the middle of the picture indicate the river, and 
your map is complete." 

Unlike the nomadic tribes of the West, the Zufiis arc a very 



192 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



industrious people. They understand agriculture and pursue it, rais- 
ing wheat, corn, and vegetables quite largely. Pumpkins, onions, 
and watermelons are their favorites. The donkey serves them for 
a beast of burden ; and they raise cattle and sheep, weaving the wool 
of the latter into garments. Until recently they produced all the 
cloth that was worn by the tribe. Now, the visitor sees occasionally 
American goods, which traffic has brought to them. They under- 
stand the art of pottery, and produce jars and other vessels of attrac- 
tive design. The goat is an important domestic animal among them, 
and fowl of all kinds are raised. The eagle is a sacred bird, and 
lariie numbers of them are seen about the town. 








'Wn 



Nl ALTARS AND INCANTATION SCENE 



r^-ancis Pilctt, who has visited the tribe, says : — 
" Each dwelling is provided with a loom, which forms a conspic- 
uous part of the furniture. It consists of two sticks, between which 
the threads, of the width of the blanket to be made, arc si)rcad, the 
whole arrangement being fastened to the floor and ceiling b)- raw- 
hide strings. The operator squats on the ground, using for a shuttle 
a stick to which the wool for the cross-threads is fastened. The 
operation of weaving is skilfully performed, although a long time is 
required in the manufacture of one of their blankets." 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



193 



The Ziini altars are very sacred to them. If they do not take 
their shoes from their feet as they approach them, they do what is 
far more expressive of reverence and solemnity. The enclosure con- 
taining an altar is represented by a cut on the preceding page, and 
no one is allowed to enter it until the grave official conducting them 
takes a small quantity of white powder from a bag suspended from 
his neck, and, placing it upon a silver plate which hangs on his girdle, 
blows it into the air, accompanied with some strange muttcrings of 

incantation, after 
which the visitor 
may enter. The 
meaning of this per- 
formance is simply 
this : it is an invoca- 
tion to the s[)irit of 
Montezuma to re- 
turn soon and fulfil 
his promise to bless 
and lead them. No 
one but the high- 
])riest knows where 
the white powder 
comes from nor what 
it is. 

Outside the town, 
though near by, is 
a large farm on 
which vegetables are 
raised. It is divided 
into ])atches, or gar- 
dens, one for each 
family, as represen- 
ted by the cut ; and 
here much labor is expended. The farm is watered by irrigation, 
which this people appear to understand, the Rio Ziuii furnishing the 
water. 

The Zuiiis hate the Mexicans, but respect Americans. The gover- 
nor said to Mr. Pilett : "The Americans treat us well, but the Mexi- 
cans very badly ; the latter have always maltreated us, and we want 
them neither to go through our country nor to reside among us. The 
heavens punish us by long drought for allowing them to remain in 




ZUNI VEGETABLE GARDEN 



194 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



the Colorado Chiquito. My cacique, who prays for rain, and who is 
the spiritual and imperial ruler of this people, watches the sun daily, 
and is much distressed because no rain falls. He attributes the 
drought to the presence of the Mexicans on our soil." 

Mr. Pilett also relates the following : — 

" The governor very cheerfully and politely accompanied us 
through the village. As the cachina dancers came in sight, and we 
halted to witness the ceremony, an elderly man approached and re- 
monstrated with the governor for allowing us to look upon this form 
of worship. In reply to the remonstrance, Pedro Pino informed the 




^ j«e^*sJ-j-- 



'mm 




ZUNI FARM-HOUSE. 



intruder that he would allow us ; ' but,' said he, ' no Mexican shall ever 
look ujion the performance of this holy and sacred rite. The Ameri- 
cans,' he continued, 'have ever been our friends, and arc good and 
excellent people. I have been in Washington, and have seen such 
men as Monroe and Calhoun, and have been in the halls of Congress. 
These men,' pointing to us, ' come from Washington, and I know 
they are good men.' " 

The above is a good representation of a Zuiii farm-house, built of 
adope, of course, and well adapted to the purpose for which it is 
erected. Near it are the faithful donkeys, with their burdens, and a 
sample of the Zuni cart. In summer, half of the tribe remove into 



MARVELS OF RACE. 1 95 

the country to cultivate their farms, the families dwelling apart from 
each other, or in small settlements. 

Mr. Gushing discovered that there were thirteen orders or socie- 
ties in the tribe, some of them strictly secret, and no white man had 
ever witnessed their ceremonial. But he succeeded in getting into 
them by dint of perseverance and strategy. He speaks of them as 
follows : — 

" Functionally they are divisible into four classes : Those of War, 
of the Priesthood, of Medicine, and of the Chase ; yet the elements 
of every one of these classes may be traced in each of all the others. 

"Of the first class (Martial) there is but one society — the ' A-pi- 
thlan-shi-wa-ni,' or the ' Priests of the Bow,' at once the most power- 
ful and the most perfectly organized of all native associations, in 
some respects resembling the Masonic order, being strictly secret or 
esoteric ; it is possessed of twelve degrees, distinguished by distinc- 
tive badges. 

"Of the second class (Ecclesiastical) there is also but one order — 
the ' Shi-wa-ni-kwe,' or society of priests, of the utmost sacred impor- 
tance, yet less strictly secret than the firgt. 

"Of the third class (Medical) are the ' Ka-shi-kwe ' and ' A-tchi-a- 
kwe,' or cactus and knife orders — the martial and civil surgeons of 
the nation; the ' Ne-we-kwe ' and ' Thle-we-kwe,' or the gourmands 
and stick-swallowers ; 'Bearers of the Wand,' who treat diseases of 
the digestive system ; the ' Ka-ka-thla-na-kwe ' and ' Ma-ke-thla-na- 
kwe,' or grand ka-ka (dance) and grand fire orders, who treat inflam- 
matory diseases; the ' Ma-ke-tsa-na-kwe ' and ' Pe-sho-tsi-lo-kwe,' or 
the lesser fire and insect orders, who treat burns, ulcers, cancers, 
and parasitic complaints; the ' U-hu-hu-kwe,' or 'Ahem' (cough) 
order, who treat colds, etc. ; and lastly, the ' Tchi-to-la-kwe,' or rattle- 
snake order, who treat the results of poisoning, actual or supposed, 
resulting from sorcery or venomous wounds. 

"Of the fourth class (Hunters) there is again but one order — the 
' San-ia-k'ia-kwe,' or ' Tus-ki-kwe,' blood or coyote order — the hunters 
of the nation. 

" To all these a fourteenth organization might be added, were it 
not too general to be regarded as esoteric, notwithstanding its opera- 
tions are strictly secret and sacred. I refer to the much quoted, 
misspelled, and otherwise abused ' Ka-ka,' ' the Dance,' which is 
wonderfully perfect in structure, and may be regarded as the national 
church, and, like the church with ourselves, is rather a sect than a 
society. 



196 MAR I -ELS OF THE A'Eir 1 1 EST. 

"Perhaps the Priesthood of the Pow is the only truly esoteric of 
all these bodies, since members of it may be admitted to meetings 
of all the others, while members of the other societies are strictly 
excluded from the meetings of this. 

" Early learning this, I strove for nearly two years to gain member- 
ship in it, which would secure at once standing with the tribe and 
entrance to all sacred meetings, as well as eligibility to the Head 
Chieftaincies. We succeeded, and the memory of my experience 
in this connection is a deeply interesting chapter of my life." 

Mr. Gushing was a Zuiii now so far as dress could make him. 
But there was other experience for him before he could be fully 
established in the confidence of the tribe. The Governor confided 
in him, and insisted upon calling him, " My little Brother." He 
demanded, also, that Mr. Gushing should call him "My old Brother." 
This additional experience he rehearsed thus : — 

" One evening, the Governor beckoned me to follow, as he led the 
way into the mud-plastered little room, whither he had unearthed my 
head-band. In one corner stood a forge, over which a blanket had 
been spread. All trappings had been removed, and the floor had 
been freshly plastered. A little arched fireplace in the corner opjDO- 
site the forge was aglow with pinon, which lighted even the smoky 
old rafters and the wattled willow ceiling. Two sheepskins and my 
few belongings, a jar of water, and a wooden poker were all the fur- 
nishings. 'There,' said he, 'now you have a little house, what more 
do you want ? Here, take these two blankets, — they are all you can 
have. If you get cold, take off all your clothes and sleep next to the 
sheepskins, and t/iui/c you are warm, as the Zuiii does. You must 
sleep in the cold and on a hard bed ; that will harden your meat. 
And you must ne\er go to I)ust-e\-e's house [the Mission], or to 
Black-beard's [the trader's] to eat ; for I want to make a Zuni of you. 
How can I do that if you eat American food ? ' With this he left me 
for the night. 

"I suffered immeasurably that night. The cold was intense, and 
the pain from my hard bed excruciating. Although next morning, 
with a mental reservation, I told the Governor I had passed a good 
night, yet I insisted on slinging my hammock lengthwise of the little 
room. To this the (Governor's rejily was : ' It would not be good for 
it to hang in a smok)- room, so I have packed it awa}-.' I resigned 
myself to my hard fate and harder bed, and suffered throughout long 
nights of many weeks rather than complain or show any unwilling- 
ness to ha\-e mv ' meat hardened.' 



MARVELS OF RACE. 1 97 

"An old priest, whom I had seen at the head of one of the dances, 
and whose fine bearing and classic, genial face had impressed me, 
used to come and chat occasionally of an evening with the Governor, 
in the other room. Often, as he sat in the fire-light, his profile 
against the blazing background made me wonder if the ghost of 
Dante had not displaced the old Indian for a moment, so like the 
profile of the great poet was the one I looked upon. He had con- 
ceived a great affection for me, and his visits became more and more 
frequent, until at last one day he told me his name was Lai'-iu-ah- 
tsai-lun-kia, but that I must forget his name whenever I spoke to 
him, and call him 'father.' Now that I wore the head-band and 
moccasins of his people, his attentions were redoubled, and he 
insisted constantly that I should dress entirely in the native costume, 
and have my ears pierced. That would make a complete Zuni of 
me, for had I not eaten Zuiii food long enough to have starved four 
times, and was not my flesh, therefore, of the soil of Zuni .-' ' 

" I strongly opposed his often repeated suggestions, and at last he 
so rarely made them that I thought he had altogether given up the 
idea. 

" One day, however, the Governor's wife came through the door- 
way with a dark blue bundle of cloth, and a long, embroidered red 
belt. She threw the latter on the floor, and unrolled the former, 
which proved to be a strip of diagonal stuff about five feet long by 
a yard in width. Through the middle a hole was cut, and to the 
edges, either side of this hole, were stitched with brightly colored 
strips of fabric, a pair of sleeves. With a patronizing smile, the old 
woman said : — 

" ' Put this on. Your brother will make you a pair of breeches, 
and then you will be a handsome young man.' 

" Under her instructions I stuck my head through the central 
hole, pushed my arms down into the little blanket sleeves, and gath- 
ered the ends around my waist, closely securing them with the 
embroidered belt. The sudden appearance of the Governor was the 
signal for the hasty removal of the garment. He folded it up and 
put it away under the blanket on the forge. Long before night he 
had completed a pair of short, thin, black cotton trousers, and 
secured a pair of long, knitted l)lue woollen leggins. 

" ' Take off that blue coat and rag necklace,' said he, referring to 
my blue flannel shirt and a tie of gray silk. ' What ! another coat 
under that. Take it off.' 

'' I removed it. 



IQS MARMiLS OF THE NEW WEST. 

"'There, now! Go over into that corner and put these breeches 
on. Don't wear anything under them.' 

"Then the coarse woollen blanket shirt was again put on as 
before, only next to my skin. There were no seams in this remark- 
able garment, save where the sleeves were attached to the shoulders, 
and from the elbows down to the wrists. The sides, a little below 
the armpits, and the arms inside down to the elbow, were left 
entirely exposed. I asked the Governor if I could not wear the 
under-coat. 

"'No,' said he. 'Didn't I say you must have your meat 
hardened } ' 

"Fortunately, however, a heavy gray serape, striped with blue and 
black, and fringed with red and blue, was added to this costume. 
One of the young men gave me a crude copper bracelet, and the old 
priest presented me with one or two strings of black stone beads for 
a necklace. 

"The first time I appeared in the streets in full costume the Zuiiis 
were delighted. Little children gathered around me ; old women 
patronizingly bestowed compliments on me as their ' new son, the 
child of Wa-sin-to-na.' I found the impression was good, and per- 
mitted the old Governor to have his way. In fact, it would have 
been rather difficult to have done otherwise, for, on returning to my 
room, I found that every article of civilized clothing had disappeared 
from it." 

But his ears were not yet pierced, for he steadily opposed it. 
Thinking, however, that there might be some meaning or significance 
in the operation which he might learn, he submitted. Boring the 
ear was attended with imposing ceremonials, closing with a long 
prayer, in which he was recommended to the gods as a " Child of the 
Sun." The Zunis are not Catholics, but sun-worshippers. At the 
close of the ceremony, the Governor said : — 

" And thus become thou my son, Te-na-tsa-li." His wife added : — 

"This day thou art made my younger brother, Te-na-tsa-li." 

Other members of the group came forward, repeating some part of 
the ceremonial, and closing with the repetition of his new name, 
"Te-na-tsa-li." Then the Governor led him to the window, and 
said : — 

" You arc named after a magical plant which grows on a single 
mountain in the west, the flowers of which are the most beautiful in 
the world, and of many colors ; and the roots and juices of it are a 
panacea for all injuries to the flesh of man. By this name, which 



MARVELS OF RACE. 1 99 

only one man in a generation can bear, you will be known as long 
as the sun rises and sets, and smiles on the Corn people of earth, as 
a Shi-wi (Zuni)." 

The Zuhis are extremely hospitable. They have no beds to offer 
a visitor, but a plenty of nice blankets. They have few luxuries to 
set before a guest, but good bread and meat in abundance. Their 
furniture is scanty, but the visitor can always find a seat on the plas- 
tered floor. Their language is much like that of the Pueblos, a sort 
of monkey-chatter, but their gesticulations and facial contortions gen- 
erally make its meaning plain. Their dress, too, is civilized, though 
homespun. Of this, Mr. Pilett says : — 

" Their dress is simple, that of the men being merely cotton draw- 
ers and shirt, with blue woollen stockings of their own manufacture ; 
a turban of wool or cotton completes the male attire. The females 
wear a gown of wool, held at the waist by a sash of the same mate- 
rial ; the arms and shoulders are left bare ; their stockings same as 
those worn by the men ; for shoes, both males and females wear moc- 
casins of buckskin. When in the street, the women cover the head 
and shoulders with a white cloth." 

Mr. Gushing took advantage of his transformation into a Zuhi, 
to learn the secrets of the tribe, domestic, social, and religious. 
Of course he learned many curious things ; and we shall close this 
account by quoting his description of one of the festivals he wit- 
nessed. 

We turn aside, however, to give the opinion of a writer who speaks 
from personal knowledge of the antiquity of this people. " We are 
enabled to locate the Zuni tribe as far back as 1456," he says, "and 
as their traditions point to a westward origin, we may, we think, safely 
conclude that the chain of ancient villages remarked by us between 
the Rio Verde and Camp Apache, Arizona, as well as the caves near 
the Verde — still strewn with fragments of pottery, some of which is 
identical with that still in use by the Zunis — were occupied by this 
people centuries before the appearance of Columbus on the eastern 
coast ; but whether this is an indigenous civilization, or of Toltec, 
Aztec, or Asiatic origin, it seems quite impossible, in the light of 
present knowledge, to determine. The theories concerning the gene- 
sis of the Aztecs and Toltecs are almost as numerous as the writers 
on that subject." 

Also, their traditions, as far as Mr. Pilett was able to understand, 
he puts briefly thus : — 

"The traditions of the Zuni are few and simple. They say their 



200 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

people came from the northwest on their march southward ; that all 
Pueblo Indians belong to a common race, and are all members of the 
large families called Aztecs, or Montezumas ; that some of their fore- 
fathers remained behind in the great migration of the nation, while 
the large body pursued a southerly course, ultimately forming the 
mighty empire of Mexico, as found by Cortez after its conquest ; that, 
long before the white man came, their people inhabited the mesa south 
of their town. They have traditions, also, of a flood ; of the founding 
of their present pueblo ; of their war with the Spaniards, and their 
subjugation, by the latter, for a time ; of the arrival of the first Amer- 
ican in New Mexico, and of the Mexican and Navajo War. But their 
knowledge of these events is merely outline, they being unable to 
give any details." 

All explorers agree that Zuhi life strikingly resembles ancient life 
in Palestine. The manners and customs, methods of doing work, 
implements of husbandry, women carrying jars of water upon their 
heads, and other things, are suggestive of style of life once lived in 
the Holy Land. Mr. Gushing says, "As I sat watching the women 
coming and going to and from the well, 'How strangely parallel,' I 
thought, 'have been the lines of development in this curious civiliza- 
tion of an American desert, with those of Eastern nations and des- 
erts.' Clad in blanket dresses, mantles thrown gracefully over their 
heads, each with a curiously decorated jar in her hand, they came one 
after another down the crooked path. A little passage-way through 
the gardens, between two adobe walls to our right, led down rude 
steps into the well, which, dug deeply in the sands, had been walled 
up with rocks, like the pools of Palestine, and roofed over with reeds 
and dirt. Into this passage-way and down to the dark, covered spring 
they turned, or lingered outside to gossip with new-comers while 
awaiting their chances, meanwhile slyly watching, from under their 
black hair, the strange visitors from ' Wa-sin-to-na.' These water- 
carriers were a picturesque sight, as with stately step and fine carriage 
they followed one another up into the evening light, balancing their 
great shining water-jars on their heads." 

To return from this digression to the festival which Mr. Cusliing 
describes. Eighteen days before, the Governor said to him, " Little 
brother, make your heart glad ; a great festixal is now every one's 
thought. Eighteen days more, and from the west will come the 
Sha-la-k'o ; it welcomes the return of the Ka-ka and speeds the 
departure of the Sun. Make your heart glad, for you shall see it 
too." 



MARVELS OF RACE. 201 

There was great opposition to his witnessing this festival ; but the 
decision of the Governor, wlio had become strongly attached to his 
ward, settled the matter ; whereupon he was instructed as follows : — 

" ' When you go in, little brother, you must breathe on your hand, 
and, as you step into the fire-light, you must say, " My fathers, how 
are you these many days ? " They will reply, " Happy, happy ! " You 
must not touch one of them, nor utter a single word in Spanish or 
American, nor whistle. But you must behave very gravely, for it is 
dk-ta-ni [fearful] in the presence of the gods. If you should happen 
to forget, and say a Spanish word, hold out your left hand and then 
your right, one foot and then the other, and they will strike them 
very hard with a wand of yucca.' 

"The messenger guided me to the low door, which I entered, 
breathing audibly on my hand. Stepping into the brightly light- 
ed centre of the room, I started off very well with, ' My fathers,' 
{Hoiii a td-tcJiu), but here broke down ; and, placing the candles and 
tobacco on the flot)r, with a muttered apology, I unfortunately finished 
partly in Spanish. Instantly two or three of the sprawling priests 
started up exclaiming ' SJiu ! sJni ! ' and stretched their hands excit- 
edly toward me. One of them took a wand from the front of the 
altar, and gravely advanced toward me. Without a word, I stretched 
out my hand, and he hit me a terrific blow directly across the wrist. 
Never wincing, however, although the pain was excruciating, I 
stretched out the other hand and my two feet in succession, receiving 
the hard blows on each. I breathed on my hand, and said, E-laJi-kiva 
(thanks !). The ]M-iest spat on the wand, smiled, and waved it four 
or five times around my head. The white-haired father of the ten 
then approached me, placed his finger on his lips as a warning, 
thanked me for the presents, and asked that the ' light of the gods 
might shine on my path of life.' But he directed that I be hustled 
away, for fear I might commit some other indiscretion. 

" I had gained my object, however, in merely entering the room. 
It was large. At the western end stood an altar, composed of tablets 
of various heights and widths, strangely carved and painted in repre- 
sentation of gods, and set up in the form of a square. At the back 
were larger tablets, on and through which figures of the sun, moon, 
and stars were painted and cut. Within the square stood a number 
of sacred wands of long macaw feathers inserted into beautiful wicker- 
work handles. Overhead hung the figure of a winged god, a little 
in front of ^and below which was suspended horizontally an elaborate 
cross. It was composed of two tablets, carved to zigzag points at the 



202 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

ends, and joined at the centre, so as to resemble a wind-mill with four 
arms. Numerous eagle plumes depended from the lower edges of 
the four arms, on each of which was perched the effigy of a swallow. 
Underneath this stood a large medicine-bowl with terraced edges. It 
was crowded with figures of frogs, tadpoles, and dragon-flies, and con- 
tained a clear, yellowish fluid. Over this two of the priests were 
crouching and muttering incantations. Behind the altar, partly cov- 
ered with little embroidered cotton kilts, were the warty masks and the 
neck-cloths of these priestly clowns. Almost immediately on enter- 
ing, my guide had uttered prayers and scattered medicine flour over 
them. All along the walls of the great room, now vivid in the fire- 
light, now indistinct in the flickering shadows, were painted in red, 
green, blue, and yellow, the figures of animals, birds, human mon- 
sters, demons, and significant pictographs. 

" This little glimpse revealed to me a mysterious life by which I 
had little dreamed I was surrounded, and I looked forward with curi- 
ous anxiety to the coming ceremonials. 

" That night, on my way home, I saw great fires blazing on the 
southwestern hills. I could hear the sound of rattles, and the long, 
weird cries of the dancers, whose forms were too distant to be seen 
even against the snow-sprinkled slopes. ' The Long-horn and the 
Hooter, the wand-bearers and the sacred guardians, whom you shall 
see four days hence,' said my brother, as he opened the door to let 
me in, and motioned with his head in the direction of the sounds. 

"During the next day, hundreds of Navajos, Moquis, and Indians 
from the Rio Grande pueblos, gathered in from the surrounding coun- 
try. Everybody was busy. Oxen were slaughtered by the dozen, 
sheep by the hundred. In every household some of the men could 
be seen sewing garments both for themselves and the women. The 
latter were busily engaged in grinding corn, cooking paper-bread over 
great polished, black stones, cutting up meat, bringing water, and 
weaving new blankets and belts. Outside, continual streams of 
burros, heavily laden with wood, came pouring in from the surround- 
ing mesas. 

"Toward evening, on the second day following, people began to 
gather all over the southern terraces, and away out over the plain 
there appeared seven gigantic, black-headed white forms, towering 
high above their crowd of attendants. (Gradually they came toward 
the pueblo, stopping, liowever, midway in the plain across the river, 
to perform some curious ceremonials. Meanwhile, eight remarkably 
costumed figures preceded them, crossed the river, and passed along 



MARVELS OF RACE. 203 

the western end of the pueblo. These were the same the Governor 
had told me of. The ' Long-horn ' and the ' Hooter ' were clothed 
in embroidered white garments, and their faces were covered by hor- 
rible ghastly, white masks, with square, black eye and mouth-holes. 
Their head-dresses were distinguished from each other only by the 
large white appendages, like bat-ears, attached to one of them, while 
the other was furnished with a long green horn, from which depended 
a fringe of wavy black hair, tufts of which covered the heads of both. 
They bore in their right hands clattering rattles made from the shoul- 
der-blades of deer, and in their left, painted plumed sticks. Follow- 
ing came two red-bodied, elaborately costumed and ornamented char- 
acters wearing round, green helmets, across the tops of which were 
attached painted round sticks with shell-rattles at either ^twA. They 
bore in their hands white deer-horns and plumed sticks, and were, 
with the others, guarded by two nearly nude figures with round- 
topped, long-snouted red masks, surrounded at the neck by collars of 
crow-feathers. They carried rattles like those of the chief figures, 
and long yucca wands with which to chastise spectators who might 
approach too near. 

" All of these were preceded by a gorgeously costumed, bare- 
headed priest, with streaks of black, shining i)aint across his eyes 
and chin, and profusely decorated with turquois ear-rings and shell 
necklaces. A snow-white deerskin mantle was thrown gracefully 
over his shoulders, and trailed in the dust behind. He carried a 
tray of sacred plumes in his hand, and was closely followed by a 
representation of the fire-god. This was an entirely nude boy, the 
body painted black and covered all over with many-colored round 
spots. His face and head were entirely concealed by a round-topped, 
equally black and speckled mask or helmet. Slung across his shoul- 
der was a pouch made from the skin of a fawn, and in his hand a long, 
large smoking torch of cedar bark, which he kept gracefully waving 
from side to side. 

"The whole party passed rapidly toward one of the plazas, where 
a square hole had been dug by the Priest of the Sun. After dancing 
back and forth four times to the clang of their rattles, uttering at 
intervals cries of boo too ! hoo too ! the four principal characters, 
with long prayers and ceremonials, deposited sacrifices of some of 
the jilumed sticks. This ceremonial was repeated in the chief plazas 
of the pueblo, and outside of it north, south, and east, after which 
the whole party, just at sunset, retired into one of the immense 
sacred rooms at the southern side of the town. 



204 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

" After dusk, the giant figures which had been left on the plain 
across the river came in one by one. They were, by all odds, the 
most monstrous conceptions I had seen among the Zuiii dances. 
They were at least twelve feet high. Their gigantic heads were 
shocks of long black hair with great horns at the sides, green masks 
with huge, protruding eye-balls, and long, pointed, square-ended, 
wooden beaks ; and their bodies were draped with embroidered and 
tasselled blankets, underneath which only the tiny, bare, i:)ainted feet 
of the actor could be seen. The spasmodic rolling of the great eye- 
balls and the sharp snapping of the beak as it rapidly opened and 
closed, together with a fan-shaped arrangement of eagle-feathers at 
the back of the head, gave these figures the appearance of angry 
monster-birds. 

"To each new house of the pueblo one of these monsters was 
guided by two priests. The latter were clad in closely fitting buck- 
skin armor and round, helmet-like skull-caps of the same material. 
Several elaborately costumed flute-players, together with a K6-yi-ma- 
shi or two, attended. After prayers and ceremonials before the lad- 
ders of the houses to be entered, each, with his two attendant priests, 
mounted with great difficulty, descended through the sky-hole, and 
was stationed at one end of the room, near the side of an altar, 
differing only in details from the one already described as belonging 
to the K6-yi-ma-shis. Immense fires of sputtering pinon-wood, and 
rude, bowl-shaped lamps of grease, brilliantly lighted up each one of 
these closely curtained rooms. 

"Toward midnight, my brother explained to me that, in each new 
room and sacred house of Zuiii, the twelve 'medicine' orders of the 
tribe were to meet, and that, as he was a priest of one of them, I 
could go with him, if I would sit very quiet in one corner, and not 
move, sleep, nor s])cak during the entire night. 

" As we entered the closely crowded, spacious room into which 
the first party of dancers had retired, a sj:)ace was being cleared 
lengthwise through the centre, from the altar down toward the ()i)po- 
site end. With many a hasty admonition, the Go\-ernor placed me 
in a corner so near the hearth that, for a long time, controlled by his 
directions, I was nearly suffocated by the heat. Along the northern 
side of the room were the dancers, their masks now laid aside. Con- 
spicuous among them were the two priests, who were engaged in a 
long, rhythmical prayer, chant, or ritual, over eight or ten nearly 
prostrate Indians who squatted on the floor at their feet. As soon 
as this prayer was ended, great steaming bowls of meat, trays of 



MARVELS OF RACE. 205 

paper-bread, and baskets of melons were placed in rows along the 
cleared space. A loud prayer was uttered over them by an old 
priest, who held in his hands a bow, some arrows, and a war-club, 
and who wore over one shoulder a strange badge of buckskin orna- 
mented with sea-shells and flint arrow-heads. He was followed by 
the Priest of the Sun, from the other end of the room. The little 
fire-god then passed along the array of victuals, waving his torch 
over them, with which the feast was pronounced ready. 

" Many of the dishes were placed before the dancers and priests 
and a group of singers whose nearly nude bodies were grotesquely 
painted with streaks and daubs of white. They w^ere gathered, 
rattles in hand, around an immense earthen kettle-drum at the left 
side of the altar, opposite the now crouching mon&ter. As soon as 
the feast was concluded, many of the women bore away on their 
heads, in huge bowls, such of the food as remained. 

" The singers then drawing closely around the drum, facing one 
another, struck up a loud chant, whith, accompanied by the drum- 
ming and the rattles, filled the whole apartment with a reverberating 
din, to me almost unendurable. Two by two the dancers would rise, 
step rapidlv and high from one foot to the other, until, covered with 
perspiration and almost exhausted, they were relieved by others. 
At the close of each verse in the endless chant, the great figure by 
the altar would start up from its half-sitting posture, until its head 
nearly touched the ceiling, and, with a startling series of reports, 
would clap its long beak and roll its protruding eyes in time to the 
music. 

"When the little fire-god took his place in the centre of the room, 
no one relieved him for more than an hour and a half, and I feared 
momentarily that he would drop from sheer exhaustion. But I 
learned later that this was a trial ceremonial, and that it was one of 
the series of preparations which he had to pass through before 
becoming a priest, to which rank his birth rendered him eligible. 

"Just as the morning star was rising, the jnusic ceased, the con- 
gregation became silent, and the chief dancer was led to the centre 
of the room, where he was elaborately costumed. Then the Priest 
of the Sun took him up the ladder to the roof, where, facing the east, 
he pronounced in measured, solemn tones a long prayer to the wan- 
ing Sun of the Old Year. Descending, he pronounced before the 
multitude (signalizing the end of each sentence with a clang of his 
rattles) a metrical ritual of even greater length. Then the spectators 
gathered around the altar, and hastily said their prayers, the sound 



206 lilARVKLS OF THE NEW WEST. 

of which rcmindecl nic of a recitation in concert in a large school- 
room. The sun rose, and they dispersed to their various homes. 

" Some time after, the dancers, one by one, still in costume, passed 
over the river toward the southward ; and the monsters, to the 
sounds of chants, accompanied by rude music on the flutes, were 
guided across to a fiat, snow-co\ered jilain. where, in the presence 
of the assembled priests of Zuiii, — but no others, — they ran back 
and forth, one after another, over a great square, planted plumed 
sticks at either end of it, and, forming a procession, slowly marched 
away and vanished among the southern hills. Toward evening no 
fewer than seven curious dance-lines of the ka-ka at one time occu- 
pied the principal court. Most of that, as well as of the three suc- 
ceeding nights, were passed in ceremonials at the sacred houses and 
cstiifas. With this the great festival was over. The assembled 
Indian \isitors, laden with food and the products of Zuni looms, 
departed for their various tribal homes." 

The Zunis and Moquis cahnot understand each other. Yet, in 
their general appearance, the\- are alike. A description of the domes- 
tic and social life of one tribe would be essentially a description of 
the other. The following account of the Moquis is equally correct of 
the Zuiiis : — 

"The women looked neat and contented, seeming to be always 
busv, some weaving their thick woollen dresses, others grinding 
grain or baking their curious wafer-like bread, accompanying the 
labor with strange, weird songs. The grinding is done by three 
women, who kneel over stone troughs sunken into the floor. Slabs 
of stone of different degrees of roughness are placed like a wash- 
board in the troughs, and on these the grinding is done b\- rubbing 
the grain with another stone of the size and shape of a small rolling- 
pin. The first reduces the grain, which has been alread}- cracked, to 
meal, the next makes it finer, and the thirtl turns it out a tine flour. 
It thus passes from one trough to another, occupying nearl)- an hour 
in the process. The women, mostly young, and some of them quite 
pretty, work with a coquettish merriment, keeping perfect time with 
their music, throwing their bodies forward together, so as to bring 
nearly their whole weight upon the mill. Their long, glossy hair, 
which is kept very clean, is tossed frpely about their necks, adding 
much to their grace and beauty. 

"One room of each house is devoted to grinding and baking, the 
latter process being even more curious than the former. A smooth 
slab of slate two feet square is fi.xetl in the large fireplace and heated 



MARVELS OF RACE. 20/ 

by coals. The hand is clipped into a thin dough of the consistency 
of cream, and then rubbed quickly over the stone, this being repeated 
four or five times, till a cake is formed covering the entire stone, yet 
no thicker than tissue-paper. Only a fevv^ seconds are occupied in 
the baking, when the bread is taken off, and the operation repeated, 
till a few quarts of dough are manufactured into perhaps a thousand 
tortillas, one of which w^ould hardly make a mouthful, but the thou- 
sand would cover the floors of five large rooms. These sheets are 
made into rolls, a dozen or more being rolled together, and are then 
eaten literally by the yard.' 

Mr. Cozzens paid this singular people a visit, and enjoyed their 
hospitality. We condense the substance of what he says about them 
as follows : — 

"Their villages, of which there are seven, are built upon the very 
edge of tliese rocky mesas, in so singular a manner that, at a little 
distance, it is impossible for a stranger to distinguish them from the 
rocks, of which they appear to form a part. The first three of these 
are built upon a bluff of solid rock, about three hundred feet high, 
and one hundred and fifty feet in width, and are reached by steep 
paths and by steps cut into the rock in such a manner that they can 
only be approached by persons on foot. 

" The liouses are built of stone, are generally two stories high, and 
are laid in a mortar made of mud, which is brought from the valleys 
below upon the backs of men, there being no soil whatever upon the 
rocks. In form they are similar to those of Zuiii, entrance to them 
being by ladders, as there are neither doors nor windows in the lower 
stories. 

"The first and largest town is called Harro ; and contains a popu- 
lation of about two thousand persons. . . . The population of all the 
villages is supposed to be about six thousand. 

"Of their religious belief: They believe in a Great Father, who 
dwelt where the sun rises, and of a Great Mother, who lived where 
the sun sets. She peopled the earth by bringing from her own home 
nine things, from which sprang the different races of men. First, 
the deer race ; second, the sand race ; third, the water race ; fourth, 
the bear race ; fifth, the hare race ; sixth, the prairie-wolf race ; 
seventh, the rattlesnake race ; eighth, the tobacco-plant race ; and 
ninth, the seed-grass race. That after death, they assumed the form 
from which they originally sprang, thus aiding to form anew the 
decaying elements of the earth. 

"They never plough or irrigate their lands, depending entirely 



MARJ'ELS OF THE NEW IVEST. 




ui)()n the natural fall of rain; their only a-iicultural implement is a 
kind of hoc; with this they plant corn, beans, onions, mc'lons. pump- 
kins, cotton, and a s]K-cies of toluicco-planl, in the \alleys around 



MARVELS OF RACE. 209 

them. They also knit, weave, and spin very nicely, as do the Zunis 
and the others of the Pueblo tribes. 

" One very singular fact is, that, while the whole seven villages are 
within a radius of six miles, the people of Harro speak a different 
language from those of the remaining si.x villages, and seem to have 
preserved their manners and customs intact, as well as their language, 
for centuries ; and another singular fact is, that, while the people of 
Harro understand and can converse in the language spoken by the 
people of the other villages, the latter neither understand nor can 
converse in the language spoken by the people of Harro. . . . 

" I was surprised, upon offering them some whiskey, to have them 
decline it ; also, to learn that the vice of drunkenness was imknown 
among them, and that they used no kind of fermented liquors, not- 
withstanding Neal Dow and the Prohibitory Law were strangers to 
them. I also learned that the crime of murder was unknown in their 
nation, that they never made war, but were brave and valiant when 
attacked. 

"Their dress was similar to that of the Pueblo Indians, and in 
general appearance they strongly resembled them ; although I fancied 
them more intelligent looking, their faces having a frank and manly 
expression ; in fact, save in dress and complexion, they resembled 
American rather than Indian nationality. 

"Their women are very pretty as well as industrious, and have a 
manner of dressing their hair which, to the initiated, proclaims their 
condition in life. If unmarried, they do it up in two inverse rolls, 
which give to the head a very singular appearance, not unlike that of 
having horns ; after marriage, it is worn in two large braids on each 
side of the face. . . . 

" Each house has its patron saint, represented by an ugly little 
Aztec image, made of- wood or clay, gaudily painted and gorgeously 
decorated with feathers. These images are suspended by a string 
from the rafters of their houses, and are supposed to exert a great 
influence for weal or woe over its inmates. 

" Every village has an cstitfa underground, or, more properly, a 
council-chamber, which is used as a public room ; here the people are 
wont to congregate, to sit and smoke and talk over the affairs of the 
nation. The only light or air is obtained from a scuttle in the roof, 
which also serves as a door. 

" P"rom all I could learn of the Moquis, I concluded that they were 
a simple, moral, industrious, and hospitable people, and without doubt 
are legitimate descendants of the Aztec race." 



2IO 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



MEXICANS. 

The blood of the Spaniard and nomadic Indian mixed produced 
the Mexican. From personal observation we say that he has much 
in common with the people already described. In his habits and 
customs, superstitions, methods of labor, occupation, implements of 
husbandry, and decided opposition to progress, he resembles the 
Pueblos and their coadjutors. 

The house which the typical Mexican occupies is built of sun- 
dried brick (adobe), usually eighteen inches long, nine wide, and 
four thick, as the house of his early ancestor was, over three hundred 
years ago. 
Short straw is 
mixed with the 
clay of which 
these bricks 
are made, in 
order to hold 
them together. 
They are laid 
with mortar 
made of the 
same material. 
When the 
height for the 
roof is reached, 

straight poles are laid close together, with a slight incline from one 
wall to its parallel wall. A coating of stiff mud is spread over these 
poles, and over that loose earth. The mud floor is levelled and 
smoothed, a fireplace constructed of adobe in one corner, a small 
door made and one or more windows ; and this is a Mexican dwelling. 
Within a few years, since the railroad, telegraph, and telephone, and 
other improvements of modern civilization, have been thrust upon 
them, the more intelligent and enterprising class are imitating 
Americans somewhat in the construction of their houses. But the 
typical Mexican loves the old architecture of his forefathers still. 

He clings, also, to the ancient mode of dress. Fashions never 
change with him. From time immemorial the Mexican dress has 
been substantially the same. 

Mexicans have adopted few modern improvements to facilitate 
work. Machines that are prevalent in the New West, among Ameri- 




'^^>'- LIFE IN NEW MEXICO. 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



21 r 




MEXICAN CART 



cans, in farming and the mechanic arts, are not used by them. 
We saw Mexicans reaping grain with a knife that resembled the 
sickle of Palestine, the same as that used by their forefathers. Their 
plough is especially ancient, — the crooked stick of the Orient. Their 
method of grinding is similar. The burro, or donkey, is the Mexi- 
can's favorite beast of burden. 

The following illustrations will enforce the foregoing remarks by 
showing that, in some things, Mexican life 
IS identical with that of the Pueblos. 

A traveller who has been much among 
the Mexicans says : — 

" When spring opens, the average Mexi- 
can farmer rouses 
from his day- 
dreams that he 
has been enjoy- 
'ng, wrapped in 
his blanket, while 
sitting in the sun on the warm side of the house. He calls in the 
neighbors, and ploughing begins. He gets the neighbors to assist 
him for two reasons. First, because he is decidedly a gregarious 
animal ; he loves to work in a crowd. Besides this, in this ploughing 
business there is economy in running a number of teams at once, for 
the education of the Mexican ox is peculiar. F'or when that wooden 
pole with the block on the end, by courtesy called a plough, is fastened 
to his yoke, he expects one able-bodied man to walk in front, while 
another holds the single 
handle of the plow. But 
if another yoke of cattle 
is behind, they will follow 
the first plough, and so the 
more the merrier, and the 
work goes bravely on. 
The land is ploughed full 
two inches deep ; the corn is planted and is ready for the water from 
the irrigating ditches." 

No miller is required to run the following mill. It can grind but 
three bushels of corn in a day. Mexicans would not have it grind 
any more, if it could ; for it ground no more than that in a day for 
their ancestors. The farmer takes his grist to the mill, where he 
finds the raw-hide hopper waiting to receive it. Into this hopper he 




MEXICAN PLOUGH 



212 



MARVELS OF THE NEW llEST. 



pours his grist, which slowly trickles down between the native mill- 
stones — slowness being one of the marvels of Pueblo and Mexican 
work. One of these stones is fastened to the top of an upright 
wooden shaft, while the lower end has projecting boards which serve 
as floats to catch the force of the stream which flows against it. 

The cut on p. 213 represents the adobe fireplace, of which we have 
spoken, large, and in keeping with its Mexican surroundings. The trav- 
eller already quoted says : "The interior of the Mexican house, where 
I made my corn purchase, was so similar to others that a description is 
in order. The walls are built of adobe, and washed outside and inside 
with plaster of Paris, with a border near the floor, of yellow mica, 




MEXICAN FLOUR-MILL. 



which gives a fine effect. The floor is of the same composition as 
the walls, while the roof is of poles covered with earth. The win- 
dows are very small, and in many cases the rude sash is covered with 
cloth. The fireplace is very shallow and high, pointed and propor- 
tioned like a Gothic window ; burns the wood on end ; gives out a 
great light and heat ; is kept scrupulously clean, and is every way a 
success. A bedstead stood in the corner, but I found out afterward 
that bedsteads were never used except to hold the becUling through 
the day. At night everything comes down on to the floor, and is 
spread there." 



MARVELS OF RACE. 



213 



The same writer describes the Mexicans as follows : — 
"The male specimen, if he is poor, wears a blanket of home man- 
ufacture for a coat ; a cheap hat, buckskin pantaloons, and moccasins 
complete his dress. 

" He was born a Catholic, but if you ask him for a reason for the 
faith that is within him, he replies with the ' Ouien Sabe,' or who 
knows, which he uses in all cases when he is ignorant or in doubt ; 
and one or the other of these conditions covers most of his life. If he 
can talk a little English, look out for him. If he cannot, he will treat 

you well and divide his 
last morsel of food with 
you, if necessary. 

"He is not very fond 
of work, but when it is 
absolutely necessary to 
buy candles and pay the 
musicians for a dance, 
or buy whiskey, you can 
rely on him for working 
as long as the necessity 
lasts. 

"He does not talk 
good Spanish ; it is so 
mixed with the language 
of the Utes or Navajo, 
from which he is partial- 
ly descended. 

" His richer neighbor, 
who owns the cattle in the vicinity, most likely can talk better, and 
write and read a little, although schools are so uncommon with them 
th^t all my attempts to give them any information in regard to Spain, 
or any country in Europe, were failures. For when they found that 
such places were across the sea, their minds refused to grasp more, 
and they would tell me that that was enough. 

"A Mexican happened into a telegraph office. Its mysteries 
haunted him, until we met one evening, and he asked me to explain 
them. I rashly thought it could be done, and commenced a descrip- 
tion of the way in which magnetism was developed by the acids and 
plates of the batteries. But he had never seen any sulphuric acid, 
zinc plates, or magnet, and knew nothing of their accomplishments. 
A young man with a group of friends came to the house at which I 




ADOBE FIREPLACE. 



214 MARl'ELS OF TTIE XEW WEST. 

was stopping, and handing mc his hat, asked me to tell the company 
what was written on it. I happened to know his name, and saw that 
the strange characters were intended for it, and without any hesita- 
tion told the audience that that was his name. This was a triumph 
for him, as he had brought his friends several miles to prove by me 
that he could write. No one of them could tell, as they could neither 
read nor write themselves. After this happy disposal of the case, it 
occurred to him of the hat to arrange some business between us so 
that I should pay a friend of his some money, in case he completed 
a trade with him, which he expected to. ' But how am I to know,' I 
asked, 'whether you trade or not .^ Will you send an order by him 
for the money } ' This was too much. He could write his name, but 
an order for money was too \ast a thing. But he got out of the 
dilemma by telling me that his friend should wear his hat with his 
name on it, if the money was to be paid to him. 

" A Mexican woman, with hardly an exception, has black eyes, 
and wears a long shawl over her head, with the ends brought around 
in front of the face, in such a manner as to leave only the eyes visi- 
ble. With this arrangement, the effect is very fine. A swarthy skin 
or ugly feature is hidden, while the glorious eyes sparkle at you in 
their beauty from among the folds of the shawl. 

" She exists under difficulties. In cooking she is restricted, by 
circumstances, to such dishes as can be prepared at a fireplace, with 
a small kettle and a fiat rock or a piece of sheet iron, on which to 
bake cakes. Pies and puddings are unknown, except on great occa- 
sions. Besides the scarcity of cooking-utensils, a very small supply 
of food curbs any ambitious attempt to excel in cooking. Indeed, so 
insignificant is the whole stock of housekeeping utensils, that family 
divisions occur with alarming frequency. In that case account of 
stock is soon taken, a sheepskin or two and an old kettle being each 
one's share. 

"When it comes to dress, the poorest ones even are equal to the 
emergency ; for when the presence of the musicians on the .street 
announces the approach of a dance, every woman in town is busy 
with a judicious system of temporary swaps of clothing, the result of 
which is a triumphant display, at the dance, of a combination of dress 
entirely new to the wearer. And woman's taste for an appearance 
in a costume never seen before, is gratified without the expense of 
shopping." 

Mexicans are as fond of "The Dance" as the Zunis are. Some 
of their dances are only social, others are connected with religious 



MARVl-.LS OF RACl-:. 21 c 

ceremonies. But even social dances are a serious matter with them. 
They never laugh at a dance, woX. even at a mistake. The oldest 
people among them dance, as well as the youngest. At three or 
four years of age Mexican children begin to dance. These facts 
show that Mexicans resemble the ancient races discussed in respect 
to this amusement, whether social or sacred. 

In courtship and marriage ceremony, there is much to remind (me 
of the Zunis. Also, funeral ceremonies, though differing consider- 
ably, nevertheless have striking points of resemblance. The traveller 
quoted went to a funeral, and lie writes : — 

" ' Do ycni care to go to a \'al(jria .•' ' a friend said one evening. 
'What is that .'' ' I asked. 'Put a candle in your pocket and come 
and see,' was the rei^ly. With the candle pocketed, I followed my 
companion up the hill to an humble dwelling at the top. As we 
entered, we found the four sides of the room occupied by persons 
busy in recounting the virtues of their deceased friend, who lay upon 
the earth floor, surrounded by burning candles, which had been con- 
tributed by the persons entering the house. I added mine to the 
number, and watched the proceedings awhile ; but as they were ver)^ 
monotcjnous I adjourned. 

"The next day the funeral took place, without any unusual cere- 
mony, except the piling of stones whenever the coffin-bearers rested 
on the way to the grave. 

"These stone piles are to be seen all over New Mexico, in the 
vicinity of church-yards." 

The presence of dogs and donkeys, in large numbers, in a Mexican 
town, reminds one of a Pueblo town. A Mexican family has not a 
complete outfit without them. 

There is another feature of Mexican life, which strikingly resem- 
bles some of the religious ceremonies of the Zuilis. The participators 
are " Penitenties " ; and the authority cited describes the occasion 
very briefly : — ' 

" Near every large town may be seen a long adobe building, gen- 
erally closed, while inside are large wooden crosses, made from the 
unhewn timber of the vicinity. They are of different sizes and 
weights, generally from twelve to fifteen feet in length, and six or 
seven inches in diameter, and making a good load for the men wlio 
are to carry them. 

"Various secret midnight meetings are held during the year. Xo 
one is supposed to know who the members of these societies are, and 



2l6 MARVELS OF THE iVEW JIEST. 

no public demonstration is made by the whole society until their 
anniversary day in the spring. 

•' On this occasion the different penitenties assemble near the 
building, form a procession, and carry the crosses through the neigh- 
boring valley. As they walk, with their faces covered with a mask 
and their backs uncovered, the bystanders beat them with cactus 
bushes until the blood streams down their bodies. 

" Sometimes they resort to other modes of torture, the idea seem- 
ing to be to add as much as possible to their burdens. I have known 
three persons to die from the effects of this self-inflicted torture, at 
one meeting ; and this, too, only from one small neighborhood. 
Individual members of the society torture themselves at other 
times during the year, in various ways, such as lying down in front 
of the churches and begging the people, as they come out, to step 
on them, 'for the love of God.' This they do to help the matter 
along. 

" I have endeavored to find out whether these societies of peni- 
tenties are connected with the church ; and, although one priest 
with whom I conversed denied it, yet everything looked like it, and 
I am forced to the conclusion that it is some kind of an outgrowth 
of their religion, and that it is responsible for it. 

"The car of Juggernaut has long ceased to crush its victims ; but 
here in a territory of the United States is an annual offering of lives 
to heathenism." 

Mexicans employ themselves, on the whole, very much as the 
races described do. They till the earth, raise cattle and sheep, and 
manufacture pottery, cloth, and blankets. The women do their 
housework, and also wash the wheat for the mill, and sift the bran 
from the flour on its return. As all families do not depend on the 
mill, women often " grind the grain by rubbing it between a large 
stationary stone and a long slim one, which they hold in both hands, 
grinding the grain as it slides down the face of the large one, on to 
the flesh side of a sheepskin spread out to receive it." The women, 
also, plaster the houses with mud, and whitewash them with plaster 
of Paris. 

The writer already quoted sheds additional light u])on the ways of 
this people by a graphic sketch of their " Every-day Life," which we 
furnish : — 

" The furniture of a Mexican house is very simple ; so, too, is 
their way of living. 

" If you approach a house and wish for a meal or lodging, you will 



MARVELS OF RACE. 217 

be welcomed, and invited to enter in the most polite manner. ' Pass 
in ' ; ' enter, gentlemen,' is the English of the most common imi- 
tation. 

" If you are a relative or a particular friend of the family, the next 
thing on the programme is a species of hug, — not a good square hug- 
as if you enjoyed it, but a rather formal affair, the hands of the 
parties being on each others shoulders. This thing is soon over with, 
and then comes a smoke all around. 

" The finer corn husks make the wrapping for the cigarette. 
These are always carried conveniently and are passed around, filled 
with fine tobacco, folded and lit, and soon the air is blue with smoke 
and vocal with the gossip which is being exchanged. 

" Perhaps some one has been elected to some church office, and is 
going to give a dance in honor of the event, and the particulars of 
that are under discussion. 

" If you propose to stop to a meal and all night, and are an Ameri- 
can, you will soon find that you have created quite an excitement. 
It rarely happens that one family of the poorer classes have all the 
requisites on hand for a good meal ; so one child is despatched one 
way to borrow some article, another in a different direction for some- 
thing else, while the woman of the house curls down by the fire- 
place to get the supper. 

" There is a kind of cake they make of flour and water, without 
shortening or yeast of any kind. These they work out as thin with 
their hands as it is possible to make them, and then fry them floating 
in lard. They are brittle and are very good. 

"As I was asked one evening what I would like for supper, I 
thought of these cakes, and said I would like some of them. 

" Every one commenced laughing. 

" I was astonished, for they rarely laugh at mistakes. I asked 
them if they hadn't plenty of flour. 

" ' Yes ! But where shall we catch them t ' 

" After having plenty of fun at my mistake, they explained that 
by using a slightly different word, I had inquired for fried ghosts for 
supper. 

" I never saw a woman sit at a table but once, and then it was in 
response to a remark that I made, that American women always sit 
at the table. 

"'Yes,' said my host, 'that's so. Come here,' said he to his 
wife and daughter ; and without any more delay he had them sitting 
at the table with us. They were not used to it, but went through it 



2l8 



M.U^rELS OF THE XEW WEST. 



very creditably, although I know they had much rather be eating at 
the fireplace as usual. 

" On one occasion I was campini;- near a house of considera- 
ble size. The large herd of sheep belonging to the owner told 
of wealth ; and when I accejjted his invitation to dinner, I was sur- 
prised at his asking the loan of a knife and fork from my mess 
chest. But when we sat down \.o dinner, I was more surprised, 



for the 



1 arpeting. 




MEXICAN POTTERY. 



My knife and fork reposing in solitary state on the carpeted top 
of the table, while mine host evidently intended to ladle his din- 
ner with a br(,)ken-handled spoon, which nestled close to the tin 
plate next to him. 

" While the women in the kitchen were dishing up the red pepper, 
he asked me to name the price I thought he had paid for the carpet, 
atlding, I have fifty yards in the corner.' 

" I made the nearest guess I could, when he told me the cost, and 
said he wanted to put it down that afternoon. 

"'What,' I asked, 'on the dirt floor.'' 

•' ' Whv nut .' ■ he replieil. 

"Then followetl a long discussion on the necessity of a board floor, 



MARVELS OF RACE. 2\g 

a thing unknown to him ; and, with a long face, he finally resigned 
himself to the inevitable expense that was to come. 

"The contemplation of a house with one hundred dollars' worth of 
carpet in one room, and not a knife or fork in the whole house, was 
so comical that I was constantly thinking of it ; and that evening, at 
my stopping-place a few miles down the valley, I told my host the 
story, forgetting, when I commenced, that I was talking to another 
Mexican, who would quite likely take offence at my reflection on his 
race. He joined in the laugh, however, but looked awkward enough 
at the table that evening, where one could see but little improvement 
in his stock of knives and forks over that of his neighbor." 

The likeness of Mexicans to the ancient races considered, is seen 
also in their knowledge of pottery. They understand the art well. 
There is a strikmg resemblance, too, in their methods of manufac- 
ture and styles of pottery produced. The illustration exhibits that 
smiilarity in a marked degree. 

The foregoing facts confirm the statement with which we began, 
— that the Mexican is related to the ancient races described. The 
points of difference are few, in comparison with the points of resem- 
blance. He belongs to our marvels of race. 



MARVELS OF THE NEIV WEST. 




MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 




MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



THE remarkable growth of the New West is one of its marvels. 
Less than fifty years ago, the larger part of it was known as the 
" Great American Desert." Reference to the accompanying maps 
of the New West as it was and as it is, will satisfy the reader that its 
surprising growth is truly a marvel. 

It is only forty-five years since Fremont undertook his first explor- 
ing expedition, which embraced only a small portion of the New 
West, — ^^that portion lying between the Missouri River and the 
Rocky Mountains, along the line of the Kansas and Great Platte 
rivers. It was regarded as a hazardous enterprise ; and the hardships 
and perils of such an expedition were really appalling. The emigrant 
or hunter who succeeded, in reaching the Rocky Mountains, without 
losing his scalp, was considered a fortunate man ; for the savages of 
that day were blood-thirsty and cruel. War was the rule, and peace 
the exception with the Indians. The diary of one of the party 
says : — 

" United with the Cheyenne and Gros Ventie Indians, the Sioux 
were scouring the upper country in war parties of great force, and 
were at this moment in the neighborhood of the Red Buttcs, a famous 
landmark which was directly on our path. They had declared war 
upon every living thing which should be found westward of that 
point." 

It is only a little more than thirty years since the same fearless 
explorer, on his fourth expedition, saw his men perish by cold and 
hunger in the Rocky Mountains. In a letter to his father-in-law, 
Thomas H. Benton, Fremont said : " Letters which I have forwarded 
to Mr. St. Vrain will inform you that we were overtaken by deep 
snows in the Rocky Mountains at the head of the Del Norte. We 
lost all our animals and ten men, — the mules frozen, and the men 
starved to death. Prone only excepted. He was frozen. The mis- 
carriage of an express party, sent in under Mr. King, was a secondary 
cause of our greatest calamity in the loss of our men. In six days 
after leaving my camp in the mountains, I overtook his party, they 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



223 



havin' 
death. 



been 
In ff 



out twenty-two days, and King having been starved to 
air days afterwards I reached the settlements in time 

to save many, but 
too late to rescue all 
the men." His dia- 
ry, at one time, con- 
tained the following: 
" The meat train did 
not arrive this even- 
ing, and I gave 
Godey leave to kill 
our little dog (Ka- 
m at h), which he pre- 
pared in Indian fash- 
ion, — scorching off 
the hair, and wash- 
ing the skin with 
soap and snow, and 
then cutting it up 
into pieces which 
were laid on the 
snow. We had to- 
night an extraordi- 
nary dinner — pea- 
soup, mule, and dog." 
These sufferings 
and perils were en- 
dured to find a pas- 
sage for civilization 
across the New 
West to the Pacific 
Slope, where now 
pleasure-parties ride 
'n Pullman cars; 
and where, within 
thirty years, some of 
the thriftiest cities 
of the world have 
isen like magic 
upon Indian hunt- 
ing grounds. 




RA S NG THE FLA, 



224 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

It was Fremont who planted the American flag, less than fifty 
years ago, upon what was then supposed to be the highest peak of 
the Rocky Mountains, where now the tide of commerce rolls. Fre- 
mont thus describes the place from which he ascended the peak, 
which he called Snow Peak, because its summit bore a burden of 
snow imder a bright August sun. " We soon had the satisfaction 
to find ourselves riding along the huge wall which forms the central 
summit of the chain. There at last it rose by our sides, a nearly 
perpendicular wall of granite, terminating two thousand to three 
thousand feet above our heads, in a serrated line of broken, jagged 
cones. We rode on until we came almost immediately below the 
main peak. Here were three small lakes of a green color, each of 
perhaps a thousand yards in diameter, and apparently very deep." 
He described his climbing the peak as follows : — 
" Having divested ourselves of every unnecessary encumbrance, 
we commenced the ascent. This time, like experienced travellers, 
we did not press ourselves, but climbed leisurely, sitting down so 
soon as we found breath beginning to fail. At intervals, we reached 
places where a number of springs gushed from the rocks, and about 
one thousand eight hundred feet above the lakes came to the snow 
line. From this point our progress was uninterrupted climbing. 
Hitherto, I had worn a pair of thick moccasins, with soles of par- 
flechc ; ^ but here I put on a light thin pair, which I had brought for 
the purpose, as now the use of our toes became necessary to a further 
advance. I availed myself of a sort of comb of the mountain, which 
stood against the wall like a buttress, and which the wind and the 
solar radiation, joined to the steepness of the smooth rock, had kept 
almost entirely free from snow. Up this I made my way rapidly. . . . 
Putting hands and feet in the crevices between the blocks, I suc- 
ceeded in getting over it, and, when I reached the top, found my 
companions in a small valle)' below. Descending to them we con- 
tinued climbing, and in a short time reached the crest. I sprung 
upon the summit, and another step would have precipitated me into 
an immense snow-field five hundred feet below. To the edge of this 
field was a sheer icy precipice ; and then, with a gradual fall, the 
field sloped off for about a mile, until it struck the foot of another 
lower ridge. I stood on a narrow crest about three feet in width, 
with an inclination of about 20° N. 51° F. As soon as I had grati- 

1 " Parjlcche is the name given to buffalo hide. The Indian women prepare it by scraping 
and drying. It is e.xceedingly tough and hard, and receives its name from the circumstance 
that it cannot be pierced by arrows or spears." 



■ MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 225 

fied the first feelings of curiosity, I descended, and each man 
ascended in his turn ; for I would only allow one at a time to mount 
the unstable and precarious slab, which it seemed a breath would 
hurl into the abyss below. We mounted the barometer in the snow 
of the summit, and, fixing a ramrod in a crevice, unfurled the national 
flag to wave in the breeze where flag never waved before. During 
our morning's ascent, we had met no sign of animal life, except a 
small bird having the appearance of a sparrow. A stillness the most 
profound and a terrible solitude forced themselves constantly on the 
mind as the great features of the place. . . . According to the ba- 
rometer, the little crest of the wall on which we stood was three thousand 
Jive hundred and seventy feet above our camp, and two thousand seven 
hundred and eighty above the little lakes at the bottom immediately 
at our feet. 

" Having now made what observation our means afforded, we pro- 
ceeded to descend. We had accomplished an object of laudable 
ambition, and beyond the strict order of our instructions. We had 
climbed the loftiest peak of the Rocky Mountains, and looked down 
upon the snow a thousand feet below ; and, standing where never 
human foot had stood before, felt the exultation of first explorers. It 
was about two o'clock when we left the summit ; and when we reached 
the bottom, the sun had already sunk behind the wall, and the day was 
drawing to a close. It would have been pleasant to have lingered 
here and on the summit longer ; but we hurried away as rapidly as 
the ground would permit, for it was an object to regain our party as 
soon as possible, not knowing what accident the next hour might 
bring forth." 

Fremont's later expedition (1849) was attended by hardships and 
sufferings almost unparalleled, showing so striking a contrast with 
the comforts of civilization now in the same locality, as to seem in- 
credible. The following letter to his wife gives, in detail, a terrible 
experience, which nearly cost him his life, where now tourists go for 
pleasure : — 

Taos, New Mexico, Jan. 27, 1849. 

My Very Dear Wife, — I write to you from the house of our good friend Carson. 
This morning a cup of chocolate was brought to me while yet in bed. To an over- 
worn, overworked, much fatigued, and starving traveller, these little luxuries of tlie 
world offer an interest which in your comfortable home it is not possible for you to 
conceive. While in the enjoyment of this luxury, then, I pleased myself in imagining 
how gratified you would be in picturing me here in Kit's care, whom you will fancy 
constandy occupied and constantly uneasy in endeavoring to make me comfortable. 
How little could you have dreamed of this while he was enjoying the pleasant hospi- 



226 Af.lMr/CLS OF rilE XEW WEST. 

talitv of vouf t'atlier's house! The furthest thins; then tVoni your mind was that he 
would ever repay it to me here. 

But I have now the unpleasant task of tellinj; you liow 1 came hero. I had much 
rather write vou some rambling letters in unison with the repose in whicli I feel 
inclined to indulge, and talk to you about the future, with which I am already 
busilv occupied ; about my arrangements for getting speedily down into the more 
pleasant climate of the lower Del Norte, and rapidly through into California ; and 
mv plans when I get there. I have an almost invincible repugnance to going back 
among scenes where I have endured much suffering, and for all the incidents and 
circumstances of which I feel a strong aversion. But as clear information is abso- 
lutelv necessary to you, and to your father more particularly still, I will give you the 
storv now, instead of waiting to tell it to you in California. But I write in the great 
hope that you will not receive this letter. Wlicn it reaches Washington, you may 
be on your way to California. 

Former letters have made you acquainted with our journey so tar as Bent's Fort, 
and, from report, you will have heard the circumstances of our departure from the 
Upper Pueblo of the Arkansas. We left that place about the 25th of November, 
with upwards of a hundred good mules, and one hundred and thirty bushels of 
shelled corn, intended to support our animals across the snow of the high moun- 
tains, and down to the lower parts of the Grand River tributaries, where usually the 
snow forms no obstacle to winter travelling. At the Pueblo, I had engaged as a 
guide an old trapper, well known as " Bill Williams,"' and who had spent some 
twentv-five years of his life in trapping in various parts of the Rocky Mountains. 
The error of our journey was committed in engaging this man. He proved never to 
have in the least known, or entirely to have forgotten, the whole region of country 
through which we were to pass. We occupied more than half a month in making 
the journey of a few days, blundering a tortuous way through deep snows, which 
alreadv began to choke up the passes, for which we were obliged to waste time in 
searching. About the nth December we found ourselves at the north of the Del 
Norte Canon, where that river issues from the St. John's Mountain, one of the 
highest, most rugged, and impracticable of all the Rocky Mountain ranges, inacces- 
sible to trappers and hunters even in the summer time. Across the point of this 
elevated range our guide conducted us; and, having still great confidence in his 
knowledge, we pressed onwards with fatal resolution. Even along the river bottoms 
the snow was already belly-deep for the mules, frequently snowing in the valley, and 
almost constantly in the mountains. The cold was extraordinary; at the warmest 
hours of the day (between one and two) the thermometer (Fahrenheit) standing, in 
the shade of only a tree trunk, at zero ; the day sunshiny, with a moderate breeze. 
We pressed up towards the summit, the snow deepening, and, in four or five days, 
reached the naked ridges which lie above the timbered country, and which form the 
dividing grounds between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Along these 
naked ridges it storms nearly all winter, and the winds sweep across them with 
remorseless fury. On our first attempt to cross we encountered a poudrcrit-} and 
were driven back, having some ten or twelve men variously frozen. — face, hands, 
or feet. The guide came very nigh being frozen to death here, and dead mules were 
already lying about the fires. Meantime it snowed steadily. The ne.xt day we 

1 Dry snow driven through the air by violent wind, and in which objects .ire visible only 
at a short distance. 



M/\rvJ':ls u/-- /■j\-/7:A'/'A'/sJ':. 227 

made mauls, and, heatin;^ a road or trench through the snow, crossed the crest in 
defiance of the poiidrerie, and encamped immediately below in the edge of the tim- 
ber. The trail showed as if a defeated party had passed by : pack-saddles and 
packs, scattered articles of clothing, and dead mules strewed along. A contin- 
uance of stormy weather paralyzed all movement. We were encamped somewhere 
about twelve thousand feet above the .sea. Westward, the country was buried in deep 
snow. It was impossible to advance, and to turn back was equally impracticable. 
We were overtaken by sudden and inevitable ruin. It so happened that the only 
placerj where any grass could be had were the extreme .summit of the ridges, where 
the sweeping winds kept the rocky ground bare, and the snow could not lie. lielow 




ENCOUNTERING THE BLIZZARD. 

these, animals could not get about, the snow being deep enough to bury them. 
Here, therefore, in the fuH violence of the storms, we were obliged to keep our ani- 
mals. They could not be moved either way. It was instantly apparent that we 
should lose every animal. 

I determined to recross the mountain more towards the open country, and haul 
or pack the baggage (by men) down to the Del Norte. With great labor the bag- 
gage was transported across the crest to the head springs of a little stream leading 
to the main river. A few days were sufificient to destroy our fine band of mules. 
They generally kept huddled together, and as they froze, one would be seen to 
tumble down and the snow would cover him ; sometimes they would break off and 
rush down towards the timber, until they were stopped by the deep snow, where they 
were soon hidden by the poiidrerie. The courage of the men failed fast; in fact, I 



228 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

have never seen men so soon discouraged by misfortune as we were on this occa- 
sion ; but, as you know, the party was not constituted Hive the former ones. But 
among those who deserve to be honorably mentioned, and who behaved hke what 
they were, — men of the old exploring party, — were Godey, King, and Taplin ; and 
first of all, Godey. In this situation, I determined to send in a party to the Spanish 
settlements of New Mexico for provisions and mules, to transport our baggage to 
Taos. With economy, and after we should leave the mules, we had not two weeks' 
provisions in the camp. These consisted of a store which I had reserved for a hard 
day, macaroni and bacon. From among the volunteers I chose King, Bracken- 
ridge, Creutzfeldt, and the guide Williams : the party under the command of King. 
In case of the least delay at the settlements, he was to send me an express. In the 
meantime we were to occupy ourselves in removing tlie baggage and equipage down 
to the Del Norte, which we reached with our baggage in a few days after their depart- 
ure (which was the day after Christmas). Like many a Christmas for years back, 
mine was spent on the summit of a wintry mountain, my heart filled with gloomy 
and anxious thoughts, with none of the merry faces and pleasant luxuries that belong 
to that happy time. You may be sure we contrasted much of this with the last at 
Washington, and speculated much on your doings, and made many warm wishes for 
your happiness. Could you have looked into Agrippa's glass for a few moments 
onlv I You remember the volumes of Blackstone which I took from your father's 
library, when we were overlooking it at our friend Brant's? They made my Christ- 
mas amusements. I read them to pass the heavy time and forget what was around 
me. Certainly you may suppose that my first law lessons will be well remembered. 
Day after day passed by and no news from our express party. Snow continued to 
fall almost incessantly on the mountain. The spirits of the camp grew lower. Proue 
lay down in the trail and froze to death. In a sunshiny day, and having with him 
means to make a fire, he threw his blankets down in the trail and lay there till he 
froze to death. After sixteen days had elapsed from King's departure, I became so 
uneasy at the delay that I decided to wait no longer. I was aware that our troops 
had been engaged in hostilities with the Spanish Utahs and Apaches, who range in 
the North River valley, and became fearful that they (King's party) had been cut off 
by these Indians ; I could imagine no other accident. Leaving the camp employed 
with the baggage and in charge of Mr. Vincenthaler, I started down the river witli 
a small party, consisting of Godey (with his young nephew), Mr. Preuss and Saun- 
ders. We carried our arms and provision for two or three days. In the camp the 
messes had provisions for two or three meals, more or less, and about five pounds 
of sugar to each man. Failing to meet King, my intention was to make the Red 
River settlement, about twenty-five miles north of Taos, and send back the speediest 
relief possible. My instructions to the camp were, that if they did not hear from 
me within a stated time, they were to follow down the Del Norte. 

On the second day after leaving camp we came upon a fresh trail of Indians, — 
two lodges, with a considerable number of animals. This did not lessen our uneasi- 
ness for our people. As their trail, when we met it, turned and went down tiie 
river, we followed it. On the fifth clay we surprised an Indian on the ice of the 
river. He proved to be a Utah, son of a Grand River chief we had formerly known, 
and beiiaved to us in a friendly manner. We encamped near them at night. By a 
present of a rifle, my two blankets, and other promised rewards when we should get 
in, I prevailed upon this Indian to go with us as a guide to the Red River settle- 
ment, and take with him four of his horses, principally to carry our little baggage. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 229 

These were wretchedly poor, and could get along only in a very slow walk. On that 
day (the sixth) we left the lodges late, and travelled only some six or seven miles. 
About sunset we discovered a little smoke in a grove of timber off from the river, 
and thinking perhaps it might be our express party on its return, we went to see. 
This was the twenty-second day since they had left us, and the sixth since we had 
left the camp. We fou id them, — three of them, — Creutzfeldt, Brackenridge, and 
Williams, the most miserable objects I have ever seen. I did not recognize Creutz- 
feldt's features when Brackenridge brought him up to me and mentioned his name. 
They had been starving. King had starved to death a few days before. His remains 
were some six or eight miles above, near the river. By aid of the horses, we carried 
these three with us to Red River settlement, which we reached (Jan. 20) on the 
tenth evening after leaving our camp in the mountains, having travelled through 
snow and on foot one hundred and sixty miles. I look u])on the anxiety which 
induced me to set out from the camj) as an inspiration. Had I remained there wait- 
ing the party which had been sent in, every man of us would probably have per- 
ished. 

The morning after reaching the Red River town, Godey and myself rode on to 
the Rio Hondo and Taos, in search of animals and supplies, and on the second 
evening after that on which we had reached Red River, Godey had returned to that 
place with about thirty animals, provisions, and four Mexicans, with which he set 
out for the camp on the following morning. On the road he received eight or ten 
others, which were turned over to him by the orders of Major Beale, the command- 
ing officer of this northern district of New Mexico. I expect that Godey will reach 
this place with the party on Wednesday evening, the 31st. From Major Beale I 
received the offer of every aid in his power, and such actual assistance as he was 
able to render. Some horses which he had just recovered from the Utahs were 
loaned to me, and he supplied me from the commissary's department with provisions 
which I could have had nowhere else. I find myself in the midst of friends. With 
Carson is living Owens, and Maxwell is at his father-in-law's, doing a very prosper- 
ous business as a merchant and contractor for the troops. 



Taos, New Mexico, Feb. 6, 1849. 

After a long delay, which had wearied me to the point of resolving to set out 
again myself, tidings have at last reached me from my ill-fated party. Mr. Haler 
came in last night, having, the night before, reached Red River settlement, with 
some three or four others. Including Mr. King and Proue, we have lost eleven of 
our party. Occurrences, after I left them, are briefly these, so far as they are within 
Haler's knowledge. I say briefly, my dear Jessie, because now I am unwilling to 
force myself to dwell upon particulars. I wish for a time to shut out these things 
from my mind, to leave this country, and all thoughts and all things connected with 
recent events, which have been so signally disastrous as absolutely to astonish me 
with a persistence of misfortune, which no precaution has been adequate on my part 
to avert. 

You will remember that I had left the camp with occupation sufficient to employ 
them for three or four days, after which they were to follow me down the river. 
Within that time I had expected the relief from King, if it was to come at all. 

They remained where I had left them seven days, and then started down the 
river. Manuel — you will remember Manuel, the Cosumne Indian — gave way to a 



230 MAR]' ELS OF THE NEW I VEST. 

feeling of despair after they had travelled about two miles, begged Haler to shoot 
him, and then turned and made his way back to the camp, intending to die there, 
as he doubtless soon did. They followed our trail down the river, — twenty-two 
men they were in all. About ten miles below the camp, Wise gave out, threw away 
his gun and blanket, and a few hundred yards further fell over into the snow and 
died. Two Indian boys, young men, countrymen of Manuel, were behind. They 
rolled up Wise in his blanket and buried him in the snow on the river bank. No 
more died that day: none the next. Carver raved during the night, his imagina- 
tion wholly occupied with images of many things which he fancied himself eating. 




LEAVING THE WEAK TO DIE. 

In the morning, he wandered off from the party, and probably soon died. They did 
not see him again. Sorel on this day gave out and lay down to die. They built 
him a fire, and Morin, who was in a dying condition, and snow-blind, remained. 
These two did not probably last till the next morning. That evening, I think, 
Hubbard killed a deer. They travelled on, getting here and there a grouse, but 
probably nothing else, the snow having frightened off the game. Things were des- 
perate, and brought Haler to the determination of breaking up the party, in order 
to prevent them from living upon each other. He told them " that he had done all 
he could for them, that they had no other hope remaining than the expected relief, 
and that their best plan was to scatter and make the best of their way in small 
parties down the river. That, for his part, if he was to be eaten, he would, at all 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 23 I 

events, be found travelling when he did die." They accordingly separated. With 
Mr. Haler continued five others and the two Indian boys. Rohrer now became very 
despondent ; Haler encouraged him by recalling to mind his family, and urged him 
to hold out a little longer. On this day he fell behind, but promised to overtake 
them at evening. Haler, Scott, Hubbard, and Martin agreed that if any one of them 
should give out, the others were not to wait for him to die, but build a fire for him 
and push on. At night Kern's mess encamped a few hundred yards from Haler's, 
with the intention, according to Taplin, to remain where they were until the relief 
should come, and in the meantime to live upon those who had died, and upon the 
weaker ones as they should die. With the three Kerns were Cathcart, Andrews, 
McKie, Stepperfeldt, and Taplin. 

Ferguson and Beadle had remained together behind. In the evening Rohrer 
came up and remained with Kern's mess. Mr. Haler learnt afterwards from that 
mess that Rohrer and Andrews wandered oflf the next day and died. They say 
they saw their bodies. In the morning Haler's party continued on. After a few 
hours Hubbard gave out. They built him a fire, gathered him some wood, and left 
him, without, as Haler says, turning their heads to look at him, as they went off. 
About two miles further, Scott — you remember Scott, who used to shoot birds for 
you at the frontier — gave out. They did the same for him as for Hubbard, and 
continued on. In the afternoon the Indian boys went ahead, and before nightfall 
met Godey with the relief. Haler heard and knew the guns which he fired for him 
at night, and starting early in the morning, soon met him. I hear that they all 
cried together like children. Haler turned back with Godey, and went with him to 
where they had left Scott. He was still alive and was saved. Hubbard was dead, 
— still warm. From the Kerns' mess they learned the death of Andrews and 
Rohrer, and a little above met Ferguson, who told them that Beadle had died the 
night before. 

Godey continued on with a few New Mexicans and pack mules to bring down 
the baggage from the camp. Haler, with Martin and Bacon, on foot, and bringing 
Scott on horseback, have first arrived at the Red River settlement. Provisions, 
and horses for them to ride, were left with the others, who preferred to rest on the 
river until Godey came back. At the latest, they should all have reached Red 
River setdement last night, and ought all to be here this evening. When Godey 
arrives, I shall know from him all the circumstances sufificiently in detail to enable 
me to understand clearly everything. But it will not be necessary to tell you any- 
thing further. It has been sufficient pain for you to read what I have already 
written. 

When I think of you all. I feel a warm glow at my heart, which renovates it like 
a good medicine, and I forget painful feelings in strong hope for the future. We 
shall yet, dearest wife, enjoy quiet and happiness together — these are nearly one 
and the same to me now. I make frequently pleasant pictures of the happy home 
we are to have, and oftenest. and among the pleasantest of all, I see our library with 
its bright fire in the rainy stormy days, and the large windows looking out upon the 
sea in the bright weather. I have it all planned in my own mind. It is getting late 
now. La Harpe says that there are two gods which are very dear to us, — Hope and 
Sleep. My homage shall be equally divided between them : both make the time 
pass lightly until I see you, and so I go now to pay a willing tribute to the one with 
my heart full of the other. Good night. 



232 MARVELS OF THE NEW II EST. 

No longer ago than 1S54 Colonel Thomas H. Benton, of national 
reputation, and his son-in-law, John C. Fremont, whose explorations 
from the Missouri River to the Pacific coast had made him known 
world-wide, became enthusiastic over the project of building a rail- 
road over the Rocky Mountains. Fremont's last two expeditions 
were undertaken, at his own and Colonel Benton's expense, for the 
purpose, mainly, of settling the question whether it would be practi- 
cable to run cars over the Rocky Mountains in the winter, when 
storms are terrific and snows deep. 

It was necessary for Fremont to undertake his expeditions in win- 
ter-time, in order to test the question satisfactorily. We need 
scarcely say that the hardships and perils of such an enterprise were 
many and great. Fremont and his men nevei" learned more of cold 
and hunger by experience than they did in that expedition. At one 
time, as news from the explorers had not been received for several 
weeks, the public feared that the whole party had perished. The 
National Intelligencer of April 12, 1854, said : — 

" It gives us great pleasure to insert the subjoined letter from 
Colonel Fremont, not only because it contradicts the exaggerated 
reports of deaths sustained by his part)-, and assures us of the in- 
trepid explorer's own safety, after his two months' bold journey 
through the mountain wilds in midwinter, but because his success 
seems fully to have established the favorable nature of the central 
route for a railroad, in winter as well as summer." 

Bear in mind, reader, that our purpose is to show the marvel of 
enterprise in the New West, which can be done well only by a clear 
and distinct understanding of the condition of the country west of 
the Missouri physically, as well as socially and morally, less than 
forty years ago. Such experience as that of Fremont seems scarcely 
possible to the tourist now, who travels from the Missouri River to 
.San h'rancisco in a Pullman car in four days. 

Before the discovery of gold in California, in 1848, few but 
explorers, fur-traders, trappers, and hunters, \entured to cross the 
Missouri River into the wilderness. The discovery of gold, however, 
on the Pacific Slope, created the wildest enthusiasm throughout the 
land, and a tide of emigration to California set in. Hundreds and 
thousands of ill-fated adventurers crossed the Missouri, to die by 
savage violence or star\ation on the " (ireat Plains " or in the moun- 
tains. The tragic end of individuals and companies who miserably 
perished on their way to the "Golden Gate," less than forty years 
ago, would fill volumes with tales more harrowing than fiction. The 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



known starvation or massacre of one company of emigrants did not 
deter another from the hazardous undertaking. A continuous stream 
of men, wild with the gold-mania, poured over the plains and through 
the mountains, — some of them to success, but more to death. 

Freighters called these baggage-wagons " prairie-schooners." 
Oxen, mules, and horses were used to draw them, from two to ten 
to each team. It was not unusual for oxen, horses, and mules to be 
hitched to the same "schooner." Emigrants travelled in caravans as 
much as possible, well armed, to protect themselves when savages 
attacked them. Wild beasts, wilder Indians, and " Latter-Day 
Saints " made the journey extremely perilous. 




E^^-.: ^^ff """ 



M 






LK THE PLA Nb THEN 



The discovery of gold in Colorado, in 1858, created even greater 
excitement throughout the country than did its discovery ten years 
before in California. Emigration rolled towards the new Eldorado 
with unexampled rapidity. A more motley tide of humanity never 
set in, north, south, east, or west. The year 1859 will ever be memo- 
rable for the number and miscellaneous character of travellers to 
Pike's Peak. Old men and mere boys, educated and ignorant, saints 
and sinners, philanthropists and robbers, professional and lay, — all 
defied hunger, cold, nakedness, and Indians, in their red-hot enthu- 
siasm for gold-digging. The " Great Plains " swarmed with all sorts 
of animals and vehicles, conveying men, and some women, with goods 
and chattels, to the gold region. It was not unusual for an ox, mule, 



234 



MARVELS OF TJ/K NEIV llEST. 



donkey, and even cow, to appear in the motley cavalcade, heavily 
loaded with the property of its enthused proprietor. The illustration 
is no fancy sketch : it represents what many men now living; beheld 
on the Plains. It is claimed, even, that one party crossed the Plains, 
carrying his outfit on a wheelbarrow ; and others drew hand-carts. 

Many of the white-topped wagons bore amusing inscriptions, as 
follows : on a wagon drawn by two yoke of oxen, moving at a snail's 
pace, appeared in large letters, " Lightning Express " ; on another 





'^C 




-: vT^- 1 




- 'i^$f£Mm^ 



LIGHTNING EXPRESS. 

wagon, "Pike's Peak or l^ust " ; on another, "Root Hog or Die"; 
and so on ad infinituDi. 

Few imagined what sufferings they might experience in their new 
adventure ; most of them had their only laugh in the early part of 
their journey. The ox-tcam conveyed Ihcm to disappointment, hun- 
ger, and death in a briefer period than they dreamed of. IMiss Mill, 
in her " Tales of Colorado Pioneers," has the following, which she 
received from one Mrs. Barney: — 

"I was in the first coach of the 'Leavenworth and Pike's Peak 
Express Company,' which arrived in Denver on the seventh day of 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 235 

May, 1859. The supply wagons were sent on ahead, locating the 
stations, and every twenty-five miles they would drop a tent, a stove, 
and a cook. At that season of the year the twilight is short, so when 
we drew up at the station for supper it was quite dark. When I 
entered the tent I saw the most soul-sickening sight that my eyes 
ever rested upon, and the flickering light of the candle added inten- 
sity to the horror. . . . The poor man, from starvation, was reduced 
to a living skeleton. He was in the last .stages of exhaustion when 
an Indian found him and brought him to the tent. After he was 
refreshed with food and stimulants he told his sickening story. 

"Three brothers set out from Illinois in a one-horse cart for the 
gold region. F'rom Leavenworth they tofjk the Smoky Hill route. 
Guided by incorrect ideas of the distance, they were po(;rly prepared 
for the hardships of the journey, and their provisions gave out before 
they were half way. They killed their horse for food and loaded 
their cart with it, taking turns in the harness of the slaughtered 
animal. It was tedious, and their strength was rapidly going. When 
the last piece of flesh was gone, they sat down in despair to die, for 
they had wandered away from the trail in search of water, and had 
no hope of being found by a human being. One sank faster than 
the others, and when dying requested the surviving brothers to live 
upon his flesh and try to get through. He died, and they com- 
menced their cannibalistic feast — ate the body, and again saw star- 
vation staring them in the face. Another died, which furnished food 
to the remaining brother. 

"Mr. Williams, conductor of the Express, after hearing the story, 
had the Indian pilot him to the spot, where he found the bones oi 
the one who died last, and buried them. 

" We took the miserable, famished creature in the coach to Denver. 
His body regained health and strength, but his mind was gone. He 
remained always an imbecile. The citizens of Denver made up a 
purse and sent him to his friends in 'the States.' " 

A story stranger than fiction has just been told us by a gentle- 
man who reached Denver early in the spring of 1859. With two 
companions he drew a hand-cart, containing their effect.s, from 
Leavenworth, Kan., to Denver, Col., a distance of six hundred miles. 
On the way they crossed the route of a team from Texas, laden 
with flour and other stores. This gentleman purchased a sack of 
flour of the teamster, and transferred it to the hand-cart. On reach- 
ing Denver, where some thirty men had wintered, he found a scarcity 
of provision, and the Cherry Creek gold mania a delusion. There 



236 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



was not a spoonful of flour in the camp ; and as the search for gola 
had proved vain, there was a general desire among the men to escape 
from their dilemma. Our informant was offered a " corner lot " for 
one-half of his sack of flour, and two other lots in addition, for the 
whole of it. He refused the offer, thinking that he might need it to 
keep his own soul and body together. Neither he nor any one else 
dreamed of the influx of people, in six weeks from that time, when 
they came by the thousand ; otherwise he would have parted with the 




CROSSING THE PLAINS WITH A HAND-CART. 



flour. Had he sold it for the three " lots," lie would have realized, 
within three or six months, from eight thousand to ten thousand 
dollars for his sack of flour. 

It is not strange that many of the best class of gold-seekers started 
homeward soon after reaching the gold country. Privations and 
home-sickness forced their return. In addition, a large class of shift- 
less characters, who supposed that nuggets of gold could be picked 
up anywhere in the vicinity of the Rocky Mountains, were maddened 
by disappointment, and they, too, stampeded. So that, for two or 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRfSE. 



■37 



three years, and longer, perhaps, the plains witnessed two large 
streams of humanity, one going to, and the other returning from, the 
gold country. The white-covered wagon that bore the inscription 
" Pike's Peak or Bust "' on its outward trip, returned with this inscrip- 
tion under the former, "Busted by Thunder." Most of them declared 
that Pike's Peak as a gold region was a hoax. One D. C. Oakes, 
who had induced many men to go to Colorado by a pamphlet that he 
published, setting forth the richness of the gold mines, came near 




PERILS OF D. C. OAKES. 



losing his life. He had been to the " States," and was returning 
with a saw-mill, when he met a large company of returning fortune- 
seekers on the ])lains, who charged him with deceiving them, and 
threatened to destroy his mill and take vengeance on himself. But 
finally he was allowed to proceed, the exasperated stampeders con- 
tenting themselves with hurling hard names at him. Mr. Oakes had 
not proceeded far before he came upon a new-made grave, on which 
the bleached shoulder-blade of a buffalo lay, bearing the following 
inscription : — 



238 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



" Here lies the body of 

D. C. Oakes, 

Killed for aiding the Pike's Peak hoax." 

The party of disappointed gold-hunters who had just interviewed 
him had buried him in effigy. Subsequent developments proved 
that the gold-cry was not a hoax. There was plenty of gold, but 
many of its seekers lacked the enterprise, perseverance, and strength 
to find it. 




CAPTURE OF 'SPOTTED HORSE. 



The Indians were a constant menace to the emigrants over the 
plains from the outset ; and they continued their depredations, grow- 
ing bolder and bolder, until their hostility culminated in the atrocities 
of 1864. "Spotted Morse" was a noted chief, who led a band of 
blood-thirsty Indians, causing a "reign of terror" in the valley of 
the Platte. Houses and cabins were attacked by the savages, and 
whole families, men, women, and children, nuirdcrcd. ^^)^ a distance 
of two hundred miles and moix-, Sjiottt-d Horse swej)! over the 
country with his painted waniors, burning, tenifying, robbing, and 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 239 

murdering- defenceless people. The government soldiers at Fort 
Kearney were of no more use than so many bundles of straw in 
checking these warlike demonstrations. The pioneers saw that 
unless death was meted out to Spotted Horse and his band, starva- 
tion and the tomahawk would exterminate them. So they moved in 
the matter as pioneers will, and the result was that Major Downing, 
with a part of the Colorado First Regiment, which had just re- 
turned from New Mexico, where it had been to conquer the rebellion, 
was ordered to take the field against the Indians. He immediately 
marched to the camp of the enemy, near the American ranch, one 
hundred and fifty miles from Denver, and pitched his tent a few miles 
distant from it. Miss Hill says : — 

"As he sat in his camp one morning viewing the country through 
a field-glass, he saw a man dressed in citizen's clothes on the oppo- 
site side of the river. He immediately detached ten or twelve men 
to capture him, and if possible bring him to the camp alive ; for he 
knew from his walk that he was an Indian, probably one of their 
scouts on a tour of observation. 

"When brought into camp, he proved to be none other than the 
famous Spotted Horse. 

"The Major surveyed him for awhile in meditative serenity ; then 
offered the Indian, who stood in sullen silence, his life, if he would 
surrender his band. This he refused to do. 

" He then ordered his men to drive a stake and prepare to roast 
the Indian alive. 

" The chief gathered his coat about him, and sat contemplating 
his funeral pyre with stoical indifference. 

"When the fire was kindled the Major gave orders to bind him 
to the stake, saying, ' You have seen many a white man die this 
horrible death, and now we propose to let you know how it is your- 
self.' 

"This unnerved him ; he pleaded for his life, and jiromised to lead 
the soldiers to his camp. The terms were agreed upon, and in the 
shortest possible time the command was moving, with Spotted Horse 
strapped on a horse in advance. 

"They camped that night in a little ravine, and the chief informed 
them that his warriors were only a few miles ahead, uj^ the canon that 
they were approaching. 

"About eleven o'clock at night the Major and his command stole 
away, leaving the camp-fires burning to make the Indian scouts believe 
that they were still there. Reaching the spot designated by Spotted 



J40 



MARTELS OF THE XEW WEST. 



Horse early in the morning, the order was given to halt and t\)rm in 
line of battle. 

" At a given signal he opened fire. The Indians made a bold 
resistance, but finally surrendered. 

" This was the first Indian battle in Colorado, and the result was, 
forty killed and one hundred wounded, their village destroyed and 
their chief a prisoner." 

Then the Third Regiment was enlisted for a hundred da}-s in a 
campaign against the Indians. On the 29th of November Governor 




^. % 



'-^< 









Kvans issued a proclamation of war against the Arapahoes, Chey- 
ennes, Sioux, and all others who were raiding upon the settlers. 
The battle of Sand Creek, led by Colonel Chivington, followed, in 
which the savages were conquered. Colonel Chivington was charged 
with unnecessary brutality by men who knew little about the affair, 
because the Indians were generally slaughtered. But the Western 
people, who understood the situation well, have not ceased to praise 
Colonel Chivington and his heroic command for removing the cause 
of their chief calamities. That battle jiut an end to the Indian hos- 



MAKVJ'.LS ()/■ l.NII'.KI'R/SJ-:. 24 1 

tilitics for fifteen years, and relieved a terror-slrieken pef;];le as no 
conciliatory jjcjlicy could have done. 

In September, 1883, the Pike's I'eak I'ioneers of '58 celebrated, 
in Denver, the twenty-fifth anniversary of their arrival in the gold 
country; and, at the banquet, Colonel Chivington, by request, gave 
an accmint f>f the Sand Creek battle, which we quote here, in justice 
to a ))atriotic and fearless ofificer : — 

"After many requests, I write this brief and hasty sketch f>f that 
famous, or infamous, battle — famous, when looked upon by those 
who know most about it ; infamcHis, when looked at by those who 
know least of it. Years have fled away; the smoke of battle has 
lifted ; and time, the Great Revealer, has placed his seal upon this 
and contemporary events. If anything can be ju.stified by its effects, 
then the noble, daring, sacrificing, heroic men, who left their lucra- 
tive employments and callings, to brook the hardships, privations, and 
dangers of a winter campaign on the plains, against the marauding, 
thieving, and murdering Cheyenne and Arapahoe Indians, must stand 
justified. Pre-eminently so. 

"These men were not murderers of innrnjcnt, helpless women, as 
some silly people believe. What are the exact facts in the premi.ses .'' 
On the 13th day of April, 1864, a herdsman, of Irvin, Jackman & Co., 
government freighters, came into district headquarters, and reported 
that the Cheyennes and Arapahoes had driven off about sixty head 
of their work-oxen and ten or twelve head of mules and horses from 
the winter camp on Kiowa, some thirty miles south of Denver. The 
district commander sent orders to Captain Sanborn, in command of 
troops on the. Platte, below Denver, to send out a detachment to 
intercept the Indians where they would cross the river, and recover 
the stolen stock, and return it to its owners ; but be careful, if 
possible, to avoid a fight with the Indians The troops were .sent 
under command of Lieut. Clark Dunn, a careful and prudent officer. 
The Indians were overtaken, as was expected, just as they were 
crossing the river. Lieutenant Dunn crossed over to the side where 
the Indians were, and engaged them in a parley or talk about the 
.stolen stock. While this was going on, Dunn discovered that the 
Indians were running off the stock. A blinding snow-storm was in 
progress ; and Dunn told the chiefs that they must stop running the 
stock away, or he would be compelled to take it by force. This 
incensed the Indian chief so much that he gave a signal, anrl the 
Indians fired on the Lieutenant when in treaty under a flag of truce. 
Of course, the troops rode to the rescue of their officers. The 



242 MARVELS OF THE A'EIV WEST. 

Indians outnumbered Dunn's forces four to one. Darkness had now- 
set in. Hence, the Indians escaped with their booty. 

"From this time on, all spring, summer, and autumn, these Indians, 
joined by others, were raiding the Platte and Arkansas river routes 
of travel, and the out-settlements and stockmen's herds, stealing 
horses, mules, and cattle ; robbing and burning houses and other 
buildings, attacking trains loaded with merchandise for Denver mer- 
chants and traders, killing the drivers and those in charge, carrying 
off what they could, and burning the wagons and remaining contents ; 
murdering and mutilating whole families, men, women, and children, 
in a manner too shocking to write or speak off. All these long 
months, and in the midst of general alarm, not only of those occu- 
pying the outposts, but of the dw^ellers occupying the villages, the 
men in the city of Denver feared for the worst. There wxre only 
troops in the district sufficient to escort and protect the United 
States mails, and garrison the posts and camps, and to send detach- 
ments in pursuit of raiding bands of Indians." 

After rehearsing the manner of raising the Third Regiment, 
for a hundred days, and the hurried march to the scene of conflict, 
Colonel Chivington continues: — 

" On the night of November 27, the command camped on the 
Arkansas River, eight miles above Fort Lyon ; and the arrangement 
of the campaign may be judged of when it is stated that, on the 
morning of the 28th, the command broke camp, and marched into 
Fort Lyon, before the garrison of the post was aware of its approach. 
Here the command rested till dark, when — joined by two companies 
of the First Cavalry, of Colorado, under command of Maj. Scott J. 
Anthony — it marched for the camp of the hostiles, about forty miles 
distant. About midnight, the guide reported himself lost, and said 
that Jim Beckwith, on whom he had depended for the last part of the 
route, was so blind from age and cold, that he was not willing to pro- 
ceed further till daylight. Major Anthony had Jack Smith, a half- 
breed Cheyenne, with his command, whose knowledge of the country 
was brought into requisition, and the command moved on, as noise- 
lessly as possible, until within eight or ten miles of the Indian camp, 
when Jack told Colonel Chivington that any further advance would 
be likely to result in the Indians taking flight and running away; 
saying : ' Wolfe, he howle ; Injun doge, he hear wolfe, and doge howle, 
too. Injun, he hear doge and listen, — hear something, and run off.' 
Colonel Chivington told Jack that he had not had an Indian to eat for 
some time, and if he fooled him, and did not take him to the camp 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 243 

of the hostilcs, that he would have him, 'Jack,' for breakfast. The 
march was resumed, and nothing more was heard of ' wolfe ' and 'doge.' 
At early dawn, Colonel Chivington and Shoup, who were one-half or 
three-fourths of a mile in advance of the command, had the Indian 
camp pointed out to them by Jack Smith, who was at once sent to 
the rear. The column was halted, and two detachments were sent to 
cut off the herds of ponies, which were on two opposite sides of the 
camp, and probably each a mile out from camp. The officers in 
charge of these detachments were strictly commanded not to permit 
any firing on the Indians, unless they were first fired upon. The 
herd of ponies farthest from us took the alarm first, and headed and 
ran for camp. In cutting them off, the troops ran close into the 
tepee of the head chief, and were fired upon, and one soldier and his 
horse fell dead. This was the signal for a general fight, which it had 
hoped might be avoided by cutting off these mounts, and then a talk 
and terms. The whole command was ordered to advance and sup- 
port the detachments, that were now under a heavy fire from the 
Indians, who had formed in line just above the camp. Colonel 
Chivington found the Indians too strong for his command to drive, 
until he succeeded in getting two twelve-pound brass howitzers to 
the front. The first shot from one of these broke the Indian lines, 
and a running fight ensued, lasting till it was so dark that an Indian 
could not be distinguished from a white man. 

" There were many incidents on the field that would well bear 
mention. I will recite one. While sitting on my horse, glass in hand, 
about two o'clock p.m., I saw an officer fall from his horse. I gal- 
loped up, and found that he had been wounded with an arrow, and 
ordered two troopers near by to assist and protect him till the ambu- 
lance came to take him to the hospital tent. One of the soldiers, 
speaking excitedly, said : ' Look out, Colonel, the same squaw that 
shot the Major will shoot you ! ' and before I could dismount, and 
make my horse a breastwork, an arrow came whizzing past, and cut 
the rim off my left ear, so that it bled freely. At this, one of the 
soldiers brought his carbine to an aim, saying : ' If that squaw shows 
her head above the bank again, I will shoot the top off it.' His com- 
mander expostulated with him, saying, ' I would not waste my pow- 
der by killing a woman.' At this instant another arrow flew through 
the air, and pierced the arm of the highly civilized soldier, about four 
inches below the shoulder-joint. I had all my life some doubts about 
instantaneous conversions, but here it was as clear cut as was ever 
witnessed at an old-fashioned Methodist camp-meeting. Before, it 



244 MAR I -ELS OF THE NEIV UEST. 

was the officer who was shot ; now, it was himself. Before, he would 
not shoot a woman ; now, he fairly shrieked, ' Shoot the dirty, red 

b h ! ' and the order was obeyed ; and the squaw was shot ; and I 

approved it. If the fools in the East and elsewhere, who are still 
shouting themselves hoarse, could only have turned loose upon them 
for a little time a band of hostile Cheyennes, and I could witness the 
scene, I would be more than compensated for all the mean things 
they have said and are saying about me and the troops vnider my 
command at Sand Creek. 

"The number of Indians killed, as near as I could estimate from 
the reports of company and battalion commanders, was from five 
hundred to seven hundred and fifty. I am inclined to think the 
latter number nearest correct. We captured a large number of 
ponies, mules, and horses. From these I allowed the men of the 
command, whose horses had died or given out on the march, to 
choose another, and ordered the remainder of them to be turned 
over to Capt. Dandow Mullen, Assistant Quartermaster of volun- 
teers at Denver, which was done, and Captain Mullen sold tliem at 
public auction and accounted for the i)roceeds in his returns to the 
Quartermaster's department. We burned the tepees, or tents, de- 
stroyed their provisions, turned over to the hospital the robes and 
blankets we tool; for the benefit of our sick and wounded, of whom 
we now had a large number. 

" Was Sand Creek a massacre .'' If it was, we had massacres 
almost without number during the late rebellion. That there may 
have been some excesses committed on the field, no one will deny. 
Was there ever a battle fought in which no excesses were committed .' 
We were on the ground, were 'wide awake and duly sober' ; there were 
not ten minutes at a time for ten houi-s tliat we were not overlooking 
the wliole scene of strife ; and after nineteen years, less two and a 
half months, we say unhesitatingly tliat it was remarkabl)' free from 
undue atrocities. I saw in a newspaper within a month that Gen. 
S. R. Curtis, commanding the department, denied all responsibility 
for the whole affair. Here is his last word by telegraph to the dis- 
trict commander : ' Pursue everywhere and punish the Cheyennes 
and Arapahoes ; jxiy no attention to district lines. \o presents 
must be made and no peace concluded without m\- order.' It has 
been an o\)c\\ secret to the writer ever since the battle that the mis- 
representation of this whole affair from the beginning was a combi- 
nation consisting of one man wlio was disappointed of promotion, and 
some others who were aspirants for office and wanted sex'cral con- 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 245 

nccted with the campaign out of their way. I heard a judge of com- 
mon pleas in Ohio, a Friend Quaker, and colonel of an Ohio regi- 
ment during the Rebellion, say only last week, when this subject was 
on the tapis, that he was expecting to be arrested pretty soon, and 
when asked why, he said, ' I captured three Rebel soldiers who had 
P'ort Pillow blazoned on the front of their hats. I sent them to the 
rear under guard of three soldiers. The soldiers returned to camp, 
and I asked them what had become of the prisoners. They replied 
that they had tried to escape and they had shot them, and I knew 
verv well that they had shot them because of their boast that they 
had ])articipated in the P'ort Pillow affair, and did not arrest them 
because I thought they did about half right.' Take the report 
of the committee on the conduct of the war in the matter of General 
Sherman's having ten thousand men slaughtered by the rebels only 
just to show Pemberton, or some other rebel commander, that he 
would fight. No man can afford to be tried by a star-chamber court. 

"But were not these Indians peaceable.'' Oh, yes; peaceable! 
Well, a few hundred of them ha\e been peaceable for almost nineteen 
years, and none of them have been so troublesome as they were 
before Sand Creek. What are the facts "^ Plow about that treaty 
that Governor John livans did not make with them in the summer 
of 1864.'' He, with Major Lowe, Major Whiteley, two of his Indian 
agents, and the usual corps of attaches under escort, went out on the 
Kiowa to treat. When he got there they had gone a da}'s march 
further out on the plains and would meet him there, and so on, day 
after day they moved out as he api^roached, until, wearied out, and 
suspicious of treachery, he returned without succeeding in his mission 
of peace. Pie told them by message that he had presents for them ; 
but it was not peace and presents they wanted, but war and plunder. 

" What of the peaceableness of their attack on General Blunt's 
advance guard north of Fort Larned, almost annihilating the advance 
before succor could reach them 1 What of the dove-like peace of 
their attack on the government train on Walnut Creek, east of Fort 
Larned, under the guise of friendship, till the drivers and attaches of 
the train were in their pt)wer, and by a signal struck down at once 
every man, only a boy of thirteen years barely escaping, and he with 
a loss of his scalp, taken to his ears, and he finally died .•* 

"That was a very friendly act these Indians did when they run 
the entire herd of stock at P^ort Larned one Sunday morning after 
they drew their rations for the succeeding week. This herd con- 
sisted of all the cavalry and artillery horses, all the quartermaster's 



246 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

animals, and all the beef cattle belonging to the caravansary depart- 
ments at the post. What of the trains captured from Walnut Creek 
to Sand Creek on the Arkansas route, and from the Little Blue to 
the Kiowa on the Platte route? Of supplies and wagons burned and 
carried off, and of the men killed ? What of the massacre of the 
Hunyan family? Alas! what of the stock, articles of merchandise, 
fine silk dresses, infants' and youths' apparel, the embroidered night- 
gowns and chemises ? Aye, what of the scalps of white men, women, 
and children, several of which they had not had time to dry and tan 
since taken ? These, all these, and more, were taken from the belts 
of dead warriors on the battle-field of Sand Creek, and from their 
teepes which fell into our hands on the twenty-ninth day of Novem- 
ber, 1864. What of that Indian blanket that was captured, fringed 
with white women's scalps ? What says the sleeping dust of the two 
hundred and eight men, women, and children, ranchers, emigrants, 
herders, and soldiers, who lost their lives at the hands of these In- 
dians ? Peaceable ! Now we are peaceably disposed, but decline 
giving such testimonials of our peaceful proclivities ; and I say here, 
as I said in my own town in the Quaker county of Clinton, State of 
Ohio, in a speecli one night last week, — I stand by Sand Creek." 

Colonel Chivington " stands by Sand Creek," and we stand by 
him, as we think every faithful chronicler of history must do. 

The hardships and sufferings of the pioneers in those days, though 
less than thirty years ago, may be learned from one of the pioneer 
women, — Mrs. Augusta Tabor. Miss Hill narrates the experience 
of Mrs. Tabor as follows, as she heard it from Mrs. Tabor herself : — 

" My first acquaintance with Horace Austin Warner Tabor came 
about in this way : my father, a stone contractor, took the train one 
morning in August, 1853, for Boston, to hire stone-cutters. When 
abtnit sixty miles from home two young men entered the train, one 
of them taking a seat by my father. In conversation it was devel- 
oped that these men were stone-cutters and looking for work. My 
father employed them. In two years from that time Mr. Tabor, who 
was one of the men, asked my hand in marriage. Another two 
years passed, and in January, 1857, we were married in the room 
where we first met. 

"On the 25th of I^'ebruary we left my home in Augusta, Me., for 
our new one in Kansas. We made our way to St. Louis, whicli was 
the terminus of tiie railroad, thence to Kansas City on a five-day 
boat. At Kansas City we purchased a yoke of oxen, a wagon, a few 
farming tools, some seed, took my trunks and started westward. My 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



247 



trip was not very pleasant, for the wind blew disagreeably, as it always 
does in Kansas. 

"We arrived at our destination on the 19th of April at ii a.m. 
I shall never forget that morning. To add to the desolation of the 
place, the wind took a new start. The cabin stood solitary and alone 
upon an open prairie. It was built of black walnut logs, 12x16 feet ; 
not a building, a stone, or stick in sight. We had brought two men 
with us, and how we could all live in that little place was a question 
I asked myself many times. The only furniture was a No. 7 cook 
stove, a dilapidated trunk, and a rough bedstead made of poles, on 
which was an old tick filled with prairie grass. I sat down upon the 






MRS. TABOR'S CABIN. 



trunk and cried ; I had not been deceived in coming to this place. 
I knew perfectly well that the country was new, that there were no 
saw-mills near, and no money in the territory. But I was homesick, 
and could not conceal it from those about me. 

*' Mr. Tabor and the two men unloaded the wagon while I tried to 
clean up the cabin. I found a number of old New York Tribunes in 
the room, smoothed them out, made a paste of flour, and soon had 
the black, ugly logs covered, putting the newspapers right side up, 
that I might read them at my leisure, for I could see that reading 
matter was likely to be very scarce. Having covered the walls, I 
unpacked the boxes and made up a decent bed. I took out my table- 
linen and silver, for I had not left home without the usual outfit, and 



248 M.IRVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

then began to prepare my first meal. I cannot say that it was very 
inviting, but I did the best I could, and we were all blessed with good 
appetites. The two men took rooms near by and boarded with us, 
thus helping us to money to support the table. Air. Tabor broke the 
land, put in the seed, and began farming in good earnest, exchanging 
day's labor with the neighbors to save hiring help. . After doing my 
housework I also went into the fields to work. 

" No rain fell that summer, so that when harvest came we had 
nothing to gather. Mr. Tabor went to Fort Riley and worked at his 
trade, while I remained at home with my babe, and made a little money 
by raising chickens. 

" Indians and snakes were then numerous in Kansas, and I lived 
in constant dread of both. I cannot tell which I feared the most. 
The rattlesnakes crav.ded into my cabin to get into the shade, and 
when I sat down it would be upon a three-legged stool with my feet 
under me. 

"The winter was warm and pleasant. When spring came we 
tried farming once more. An abundant crop resulted, but there was 
no market for it ; eggs were three cents per dozen, and shelled corn 
twenty cents per bushel. I kept boarders and made some butter to 
sell. In February, 1859, Mr. Tabor heard of Pike's Peak, through 
some one of Green Russell's party who was returning, and at once 
decided to try his luck in the new P^ldorado. He told me I might 
go home to Maine, but I refused to leave him, and upon refiection he 
thought it would be more profitable to take me, as in that case the 
two men would go along and board with us, and the money they paid 
would keep us all. Mr. Tabor worked at the P^ort through March 
and April, earning money for our outfit. 

" The fifth day of April we gathered together our scanty means, 
bought supplies for a few months, yoked our oxen and cows, mounted 
our seats in the wagon, and left the town of Zeandale with the deter- 
mination of returning in the fall, or as soon as we had made money 
enough to pay for the one hundred and sixty acres of government 
land, and buy a little stock. 

"What I endured on this journey only the women who crossed 
the plains in 1859 can realize. There was no station until we arrived 
within eighty miles of Denver, via the Republican route ; no road 
and a good part of the way no fuel. 

"We were obliged to gather buffalo chips, sc^mctimes travelling 
miles to find enough to cook a meal with. I'his weary work fell to 
the women, for the men had enough to do in takinff care of the 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 249 

teams, and in 'making' and 'breaking' the camp. The Indians 
followed us all the time, and were continually begging and stealing. 

" Every Sunday we rested, if rest it could be called. The men 
went hunting, while I stayed to guard the camp, wash the soiled 
linen, and cook for the following week. Quite frequently the Indians 
gathered around my camp, so that I could do nothing all day. They 
wallowed in the water-sources from which our supplies were obtained, 
and were generally very filthy. My babe was teething and suffering 
from fever and ague, so that he required constant attention day and 
night. I was weak and feeble, having suffered all the time that I 
lived in Kansas with ague. My weight was onl}' ninety pounds. 

"We arrived in Denver about the middle of June, and as our 
cattle were footsore we were obliged to camp there until the' first day 
of July. Then we went up Clear Creek where the town of Golden 
was being established. A miner came down from the mountains, 
from whom we inquired the way to Gregory diggings. Leaving me 
and my sick child in the 7x9 tent, that my hands had made, the men 
took a supply of provisions on their backs, a few blankets, and bid- 
ding me be good to myself, left on the morning of the glorious 
Fourth. How sadly I felt, none but God, in whom I then firmly 
trusted, knew. Twelve miles from a human soul, save my babe. The 
only sound I heard was the lowing of the cattle, and the)', poor 
things, seemed to feel the loneliness of our situation, and kept 
unusually quiet. Every morning and evening I had a ' round up ' all 
to myself. There were no cow-boys for me to cut, slash, and shoot ; 
no disputing of brands or mavericks. Three long weary weeks I 
held the fort. At the expiration of that time they returned. On 
the 26th of July w^e again loaded the wagon and started into the 
mountains. The road was a mere trail ; every few rcxls we were 
obliged to stop and widen it. Many times we unloaded the wagon, 
and, by pushing it, helped the cattle up the hills. Going down hill 
was so much easier, that it was often necessary to fasten a full-grown 
pine tree to the back of the wagon for a hold-back or brake. Often 
night overtook us where it was impossible to find a level place to 
spread a blanket. Under such circumstances we drove stakes in the 
ground, rolled a log against them, and lay with our feet against the 
log. Sometimes the hill was so steep that we slept almost upright. 
We were nearly three weeks cutting our way through Russell's Gulch 
into Payne's Bar, now called Idaho Springs. 

" Ours was the first wagon through, and I was the first white 
woman there, if white I could be called, after camping out three 



250 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

months. The men cut lot^s and laid them up four feet high, then 
put the 7x9 tent on for a roof. Mr. Tabor went prospecting. 
I opened a 'bakery,' made bread and pies to sell, gave meals, and 
sold milk from the cows we had brought. 

'' Here one of our party, Mr. Maxey, had an attack of mountain 
fev^er, and for four weeks he lay very ill at the door of our tent, in a 
wagon bed, I acting as physician and nurse. A miner with a gun- 
shot wound through his hand was also brought to my door for atten- 
tion. 

" With the first snow-storm came an old miner to our camp, who 
told us dreadful stories of snow-slides, and advised Mr. Tabor to take 
me out of the mountains immediately. Those who know anything of 
the surroundings of Idaho will smile at the idea of a snow-slide there. 
Hut we, in our ignorance of mountains, believed all the old miner 
said, and left for Denver. 

" I had been very successful with my bakery in that camp, making 
enough to pay for the farm in Kansas and to keep us through the 
winter. 

" Arriving in Denver, we rented a room over a store. It was the 
first roof I had slept under for six months. I took a fevv boarders, 
and Mr. Tabor returned to his prospect, which he t\)und had been 
jumped by the miner who had athised us to leave. ' Might was 
right' in those days, so he lost all his suminer's work, and liad to 
sell the cow to buy the supply for the new camp, which was up the 
head-waters of the Arkansas. 

"The 19th of February, i860, I was lifted from a bed of sickness 
to a wagon, and we started for the new mining excitement. No woman 
had yet been there. 

"We were seven days going to where Manitou now stands. I made 
biscuit with the water of the soda springs ; they were yellow, and 
tasted so strongly of soda that even we, with our out-door appetites, 
could not relish them. 

"We lingered there one week, the men doing a little prosjiecting, 
and working on a new road over the Ute Pass. 

"We made such slow progress over this road that every evening 
we could look back and see the smoke from the camp-fire of the pre- 
vious evening. After two weeks of such wearying travel, we reached 
South Park. I shall never forget my first vision of the park. The 
sun was just setting. I can only describe it by saying it was one of 
Colorado's sunsets. Those who have seen tlum know how glorious 
they are. Those who have not cannot imagine aiuthing so gor- 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 25 I 

gcously beautiful. The park looked like a cultivated field, with 
rivulets coursing through, and herds of antelope in the distance. 
We camped on the bank of a clear stream, and the men went fish- 
ing. We had broiled trout that night for supper, and passed the 
evening over a game of whist by the light of our camp-fire. 

" The fourth day in the park we came late at night to Salt Creek. 
Tried the water and found that we could not let the cattle drink it ; 
neither could we drink it. We tied the oxen to the wagon and went 
supperless to bed. The night was very cold, and a jack came to our 
tent and stood in the hot embers until he burned his fetlocks off. 
He stayed with us to the end of our trip, and carried me many miles 
upon his back. 

" We moved on the ne.xt day to fresh water, and camped on Trout 
Creek. Knowing that a party of men had left Denver a few days 
before we did, and feeling anxious to come u}) with them, the men 
shouldered their rifled and started out in searcli of footj^rints, each 
going in a different direction. The one who came upon tlie trail was 
to fire off his gun as a signal to the others. All day long I listened 
for the rei:)ort of a gun. The men had not arrived when night's 
shadows gathered around, and I felt desolate indeed. The little jack 
came into the tent, and I bowed my head upon him and wept in lone- 
liness of soul. 

"The men had gone farther than they expected, and were some- 
what bewildered, and only for the camp-fire that I kept blazing, they 
could not have found their way back. 

"As they did not find the trail, we concluded to follow the way a 
stick might fall. It fell ])ointing southwest, and we went in that 
direction. 

"Finding what we thought a good fording place in the Arkansas 
River, we decided to cross, as the road seemed better on the other side. 

"The river was very raj^id and full of bowlders, around which 
clung cakes of ice. Our cattle, thin, weak, and tired, were numb 
with cold, and halted in the middle of the river. The men plunged 
into the cold stream, which was waist deep, tied ropes to their horns, 
went upon the opposite shore, and endeavored to drag them over, but 
with no success. They then unloaded the wagon, putting the goods 
upon the ice, which was liable to break off and float away, unyoked 
the oxen, dragged the wagon over, and carried the goods on their 
shoulders. The faithful little jack swam the river with me on its 
back. Upon consulting our watch we found that we had been six 
hours crossing the Arkansas. 



252 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

" We made a fire, dried our clothing on us, and nursed the cattle 
all night, feeling that we must save them, for our provision was get- 
ting low, and unless game came in from the valley, we should be 
obliged to eat them. 

" After camping in this place a week, we moved further up the 
river, where we went to work in earnest. Mr. Tabor and Mr. Maxey 
whip-sawed some lumber and made sluice-boxes, sawed riffles from a 
log, put in a ditch from the creek, and commenced washing the bank 
away. Cleaning the boxes up at night, we found fine gold in an 
abundance of black sand. I worked hard every day, trying to sepa- 
rate the gold from the iron sand, and at night would have only a few 
pennyweights of the precious metal. For four weeks we worked 
there ; our supplies were about gone, and we felt discouraged. It 
had been one long year since we heard from the loved ones at home. 

" One morning a man came to the camp, and said he was one of 
the party that left Denver a few days in advance of us, and they had 
found gold in paying quantities. He gave us explicit directions how 
to reach the rich diggings. We followed his directions, and under- 
took to cross the river where it looked shallow. When near the 
opposite bank we came into a deep channel. Our wagon bed, with 
myself and child in it, raised above the wheels and floated down the 
stream. It was rapidly filling with water, when it occurred to me 
to cling to the willows on the bank. I did so, and held with unnatural 
strength until the men came to my rescue. We reached California 
Gulch three months after we left Denver. The first thing after 
camping was to have the faithful old oxen butchered that had brought 
us all the way from Kansas, — yes, from the Missouri River, three 
years before. We divided the beef with the miners, for they were 
without provisions or ammunition. 

" Before night they built me a cabin of green pine logs, without 
floor, door, or window. The roof was covered with poles, bark, and 
dirt, and the wagon was converted into table, side-board, and three- 
legged stools. I entered this place happy that I once more had a 
roof to cover my head, and at once commenced taking boarders, with 
nothing to feed them except poor beef and dried apples. 

" It was soon noised about that gold was struck in California 
Gulch, and before many weeks there were ten thousand people there. 
A mail and express was immediately decided upon, and I was 
appointed postmistress. 

"With my many duties the days passed quickly. I was called 
upon to weigh all the gold taken from the upper part of the gulch, 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 253 

as we were the only owners in that section of a pair of gold-scales. 
The miners would clean up their boxes, get their gold weighed, and. 
go to town (where Leadville now stands), spree all night, and return 
'dead broke ' in the morning to commence again. 

"Mr. Tabor was then working our mine, which was No. 12 above 
discovery. We took that because it had a fall ; but it was a mistake, 
for the gold was nearly all washed over the fall into the claim below, 
from which eighty thousand dollars was taken out during the summer 
of i860. 

" I was very happy that summer, and joyfully anticipated a visit 
to my mother and father in the fall. 

" On the 20th of September Mr. Tabor gave me one thousand 
dollars in dust. I put my wardrobe — what there was of it — in a car- 
pet-bag, and took passage with a mule train that was going to the Mis- 
souri River. I was five weeks crossing, and cooked for my board. 

" With that thousand dollars I purchased one hundred and sixty 
acres of land in Kansas, adjoining the tract we already owned. My 
folks dressed me up, and in the spring I bought a pair of mules and 
a wagon in St. Joe to return with, which took about all my money. 

" Mr. Tabor gave me one-fifth of what was made that summer, 
when I left ; the other four thousand he sent to Iowa and bought 
flour, and in the spring we opened a store in my cabin. He worked 
in the mine during the day, while I attended to the store. I feel that 
in those years of self-sacrifice, hard labor, and economy, I laid the 
foundation to Mr. Tabor's immense wealth ; for, had I not stayed 
with him and worked by his side, he would have been discouraged, 
returned to his trade, and so lost the opportunity which has since 
enriched him." 

These hardships and perils are found no more in the New West. 
Where Mrs. Tabor drank deepest of the cup of bitterness, there are 
now thrifty and wealthy cities, with all the modern attractions of 
schools, churches, art, and adornment. Over the " Great Plains," 
where so many became the victims of starvation and the tomahawk, 
a quarter of a century ago, the tourist rides in luxurious palace cars, 
with none to molest or make afraid. 

Even now many of the New England people think of the New 
West as the place where "dug-outs," Indians, and buffalo predominate. 
But these are things of the past. We do not affirm that so-called 
"dug-outs" cannot be found anywhere in the New West; for that 
would not be true. But we affirm that where they were common 
twenty-five and thirty years ago, they exist now only in ruins. Buf- 



254 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



falo are unknown to-day in the larger part of the New West. They 
have become almost extinct. And while Indians make occasional 
raids upon ranches and white settlements, in some parts of the West, 
that portion of the New West of which we have been speaking is not 
troubled by their presence. A New England lady went to Colorado 
to reside in 1877. At the end of four years she returned, on a visit, 
with her husband, and one day they were in the city of Boston, 
where they met on the street several Western Indians, whom a show- 
man was exhibiting there. Turning to her husband, the lady re- 








CROSSING THE PLAINS NOW. 

marked, "Those are the first Indians I have seen since I left Massa- 
chusetts four years ago." 

Fremont describes a herd of buffalo which he saw during one of 
his exploring expeditions, so large as to cover the country as far as 
he could see. By count he estimated that there were eleven thousand 
of them within a certain compass his eye took in ; and this was only 
a part of the herd. 

When the Union Pacific Railroad first went into operation, a train 
of cars was stopped quite a while by a licrd of buffalo crossing the 
track. Colonel Dodge, in his " Plains of the (ircat West," speaks as 
follows of the buffalo : — 

'' Forty years ago the buffalo ranged from the plains of 'I'cxas to 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



255 



beyond the British hue ; from the Missouri and upper Mississippi to 
the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. 

"In 1872, some enemy of the buffalo discovered that their hides 
could be sold in the market for a goodly sum. By wagon, on horse- 
back, and afoot, the pelt hunters poured in, and soon the unfortunate 
buffalo was without a moment's peace or rest. Though hundreds of 
thousands of skins were sent to market, they scarcely indicated the 
slaughter. From want of skill in shooting, and want of knowledge 
in preserving the hides of those slain, on the part of these green 












\i' % 



r.: i^i'M 









'7 



"■^ -^^ =:-^ 



r-l^xY' 



mii-m^ 



^t'^r: 



ff 



'ii^h'k^^ii'^ii. s.'^'^ -^Ilii 



HERD OF BUFFALO STOPPING THE TRAIN. 



hunters, one hide sent to market represented three, four, or even five 
dead buffalo. The hunter's object is not only to kill, but to avoid 
frightening the living. Keeping the wind, peeping over hills, crawl- 
ing like a snake along the bottom of a ravine, he may approach un- 
suspected to within thirty or forty feet of the nearest. The game is 
so near that but one shot is necessary for each life. Hiding his every 
movement, the heavy rifle is brought to bear, and a bullet is sent into 
the heart of the nearest buffalo. The animal plunges forward, walks 
a few steps, and stops, with blood streaming from his nostrils. The 
other buffalo, startled at the report, rush together, but, neither see- 



256 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

ing nor smelling clanger, stare in uneasy wonder. Attracted by the 
blood, they collect about the wounded buffalo. Again and again the 
rifle cracks. Buffalo after buffalo bleeds, totters, and falls. The sur- 
vivors stare in imbecile amazement. 

" I have myself counted one hundred and twelve carcasses inside 
of a semi-circle of two hundred yards radius, all of which were killed 
by one man from the same spot, and in less than three-quarters of an 
hour. The buffalo melted away like snow before a summer's sun. 
Congress talked of interfering, but only talked. Winter and sum- 
mer, in season and out of season, the slaughter went on. In 1871- 
^2, there was apparently no limit to the number of buffalo. 

"As the game became scarcer, more attention was paid to all 
details, and in 1874, one hundred skins, delivered in the market, 
represented one hundred and twenty-five dead buffalo. 

" To avoid overestimating, I have, in every case, taken the lowest 
figures, and the result is as follows : — 

Killed by the Tmlians in the years 1872, 1873, and 1874 1,215,000 

Killed by the Whiles in the years 1S72, 1873, and 1874 3,158,730 



Total 4, 



j/j'/j"- 



Making the enormous, almost incredible number, of nearly four and 
a half millions of buffalo killed in the short space of three years. 
Nor is this all. No account has been taken of the immense number 
of buffalo killed by hunters who come into the range from New Mex- 
ico, Colorado, Texas, and the Indian Territory ; of the numbers 
killed by the Utes, Bannocks, and other mountain tribes, in their fall 
hunt on the plains. Nothing has been said of the numbers sent from 
the Indian Territory, by other railroads than the Atchison, Topeka 
& Santa Fe, to St. Louis, Memphis, and elsewhere ; of the immense 
number of robes which go to California, Montana, Idaho, and the 
Great West ; nor of the still greater numbers taken each year from 
the territory of the United States by the Hudson Bay Comjxany. 
All of these will add another million to the already almost incredible 
mortuary list of the nearly extinct buffalo." 

On a former page we spoke of a stage line opened from Leaven- 
worth, Kansas, to Pike's Peak, in May, 1859. I^ 1864 the Indians 
committed such depredations that the stage line was discontinued. 
Not only were wagon trains attacked by the savages, but stages were 
attacked also. Many wagon trains, containing sujDplies and machinery 
for traders and settlers, were captured and Inn-ned on the plains. Farm- 
houses and stage stations shared the same fate. Some stages were 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



257 



captured and passengers massacred. Colonel Chivington's statement, 
already quoted, did not exaggerate the facts. 

And this was little more than twenty years ago ! 

Even as recent as 1879, ^^^ author of "Camps in the Rockies" 
recorded an incident that shows how generally the perils from Indians 
pervaded the Rocky Mountain region. He says : " I visited the spot 
on two different occasions. The first time (in 1879) ^ reached the 




S~A3E ATTACKED £ •' ■.: -M 

few scattered log-cabins, nestling under the beetling brows of a gorge, 
intersecting a vast upland plateau some six thousand or sev^en thou- 
sand feet above the sea ; the inhabitants were in the throes of an Indian 
scare ; the Utes had ' broken out ' one hundred and fifty miles south, 
had massacred a lot of troops that had been sent to subdue them, and 
were now supposed to be on the war-path northwards, ready to do as 
a kindred tribe had done a year or two before ; i.e., to sweep the whole 
country- and butcher the solitary white settlers. I happened to strike 



258 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

the settlement a clay or two after the first rumor of the Ute outbreak 
had reached it. Riding a few miles ahead of our men, who followed 
with the pack animals, I reached the cabin some hours before them. 
The men of the settlement were all away attending to a distant cattle- 
drive ; they had left before the first alarm, and were not expected 
back for some days yet. The women — there were some eight or 
nine families — had, on receipt of the first warning, held a council of 
war, in which it was decided to retire to a small underground * fort ' 
— cellar would describe it better — connected by a subterranean 
passage with the largest log-cabin of the settlement. It was hastily 
provisioned ; a woman who was in childbed brought hither, and every- 
body ready to repair to this last refuge at the first approach of the 
dreaded foe. My looks, as I rode up to the first shanty, I suppose, 
were not very reassuring. Long absence in the wilds of the moun- 
tains had reduced my dress to the last extremity. The skin and veni- 
son of a bighorn I had killed that morning were slung over my saddle, 
and festooned old Boreas's flanks, while my hands were still red with 
the blood of my game, as I had passed no water since my morning's 
kill. Altogether I must have looked, astride of my pony, who was 
likewise bespattered by blood, a somewhat uncanny character. Not 
having seen a white man for some time past, I was unaware of the 
Indian news, and hence was quite unprepared for the shout, ' Halt ! ' 
that stopped me a few yards from a fence surrounding the first log- 
cabin. On looking at the place from whence issued the voice, I 
espied a huge needle-rifle resting on the top bar of the fence. Its 
business end was pointed at me with unpleasant steadiness, while at 
the butt end I descried a diminutive bit of humanity in the shape of 
a boy of eleven or twelve. 

" * Say, stranger, what the are you, anyhow } Be you a 

tarnal red-skin half-breed, or a white man } ' demanded the miniature 
sentry, who, on the lookout for Indians, wanted to make sure ere he 
let me pass. My laughing answer was followed by his letting down 
the hammer of his rifle, and standing up under the shadow of his huge 
old arm, at least a foot and a half taller than himself, disclosing to 
me a bright-eyed youngster of frontier breed. 

" ' I am the boss of this yer camp,' he replied to my query, and 
taking from his trouser-pocket a roll of plug, he made a formidable 
bite at it. I had arranged to wait for my men at the settlement, so 
dismounting and tying up my horse, I followed his indication to go 
into the house, 'where mam oughter (ought to be) cooking dinner.' 

"This latter personage, busy with her stove, seemed somewhat 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 259 

taken aback when I stalked into the cabin. However, she seemed 
prepared for squalls ; a well-filled cartridge-belt girthed her waist, a 
long six-shooter in its sheath being attached to it, while a Winchester 
rifle was leaning against the stove ready for immediate action. In 
ten minutes the loquacious Western lady had informed me of the 
state of things, — had told me in what a perpetual state of fright they 
had been the last two days ; how every soul in the settlement retired 
every evening to their underground 'fort ' ; and how they longed to 
have their husbands and sons back again. She seemed delighted to 
hear that my party would presently follow, and that we had seen no 
signs of hostile Indians further north. After partaking of dinner, 
and the boy-sentry being relieved by a neighbor's daughter, I made 
the round of the cottages under the guidance of the boy-sentry, who 
turned out to be a very wide-awake little chap, a genuine Western- 
raised child, more of a man than many a swaggering lout double his 
age further east, his astonishing flow of bad language and the con- 
stant application to his plug being the only drawbacks to a more 
intimate acquaintance with him. 

"I visited the cellar 'fort,' and comforted the sick woman with the 
news of the reinforcements the settlement had received. Some twelve 
feet square, with loop-holes where the walls, only seven feet high, 
joined the earthwork roof, it seemed a safe enough place, however 
insufficient in its-dimensions, to hold twelve or fifteen human beings. 
The narrow passage, sloping upwards, some four or five yards long 
and only four feet high, connecting this cellar-like excavation with 
the body of the log shanty, was so arranged that it could be filled up 
with earth at a moment's notice, while the heavy pile of earth that 
covered the rafter roof, raising it slightly over the ground, made it 
difficult, if not impossible, for the Indians to fire the structure. 

" My men arriving in due time, we pitched camp close to it, and 
remained there for two days, giving our worn-out cattle a very neces- 
sary rest. A part of the male contingent of the settlement returned 
before we left, and, as was not unnatural, felt very grateful to us for 
our presence." 

Such an occurrence now is as improbable in Colorado as it is in 
Massachusetts. This fact alone shows the marvel of growth and 
improvement better than description. 

The marvellous enterprise and growth of the New West is strik- 
ingly illustrated by the methods adopted to carry the mails. Gold 
was discovered in California in 1848, and in less than three years 
from that time there were one hundred and fifty thousand men in 



26o 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



San Francisco. They represented nearly the whole world ; for they 
came from ever\' quarter of the habitable globe, leaving loved ones 
behind. 

To meet the necessities of so large a population, the mails becamfe 
ponderous. They were conveyed by water from New York to San 
Francisco, each passage consuming from three to four weeks. Such 
delay was very trying to the feelings of those who were anxious to 
hear from friends at home, and extremely embarrassing to business 




bNOW SKATES. 



men. Yet, for ten years, all were forced to adapt themselves to these 
unfavorable circumstances. 

The settlers in the rich valleys at the eastern base of the high 
Sierras of California were even worse off. Four or five months in 
the year no mails could reach them, on account of the depth of the 
snow. Fearless men attempted to scale the snow-crowned summits, 
again and again, to carry the mails to these inland-bound people, but 
as often sacrificed life to tlieir temerity. It was trying enough to 
cross those mountains in summer time ; but, in the winter, when 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 26 1 

snow-storms raged almost daily, and the snow was often from fifteen 
to twenty feet deep, it was extremely perilous to make the attempt. 

A Norwegian, however, by the name of John A. Thompson, pro- 
posed to carry the mail to these people through the winter, on snow- 
skates. His proposition was received with much incredulity at first, 
but he soon proved that he was in earnest and meant business. He 
had been trained from boyhood, in his native land, to the use of 
snow-skates. 

The reader will observe that the '&x\ov^-skatc is entirely different 
from the 's^wow-shoc. The former is designed for skating upon hard 
snow, by which mode of travel, an expert, like Thompson, may ac- 
quire a speed not inferior to that in the skating-rink or on a lake 
of ice. The latter (the snow-shoe) is designed for walking on loose 
snow, in a level country, — a very slow process of locomotion. It is 
stepping instead of sliding. 

In 1854, Mr. Thompson made a bargain with T. J. Matteson, of 
Murphey's Camp, Calaveras County, to continue postal service 
through the winter, on wages of two hundred dollars a month, no 
matter if the snow was twenty feet deep. From that time the settle- 
ment of which we are speaking enjoyed postal facilities in winter as 
w^ell as summer ; for Thompson made a success of his enterprise. 

He carried a pole in his hand, which served as a brake on down 
grades, and a propeller up hill. On the whole, this method of carry- 
ing the mail was pleasurable as well as novel, contrasted with the 
more perilous method by horse and sleigh. In Sierra County, Cali- 
fornia, young people skate on snow instead of ice, on moonlight 
evenings, for pleasure and recreation. The sport is charged with 
excitement and fun. Young ladies challenge young men to a race 
of ten or fifteen miles on the snow-skate. That distance is readily 
accomplished in a winter evening. 

No attempt was made to carry the mail overland to California 
until October, 1858, when the first mail across the continent reached 
San Francisco, Oct. 10. But in i860. Majors, Russell & Co., of 
Leavenworth, Kan., established the famous "Pony Express." This 
was a plan to carry the mail on horseback at a rapid speed, changing 
horses at suitable distances, and drivers every fifty or seventy-five 
miles. The great object was to get letters through sooner. The 
first overland mail in 1858, was twenty-three days going through; 
and this was but little gain over the carriage by sea. The mail must 
be carried from the Atlantic to the Pacific in half that time, to answer 
the demands of business. 



262 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



On April 3, i860, the "Pony Express" left St. Joseph, Mo., and 
San Francisco simultaneously, and carried the mail through in ten 
days. The second trip consumed fourteen days ; the third, nine 
days ; the fourth, ten days ; the fifth, nine days ; and the sixth, nine ; 
and this came to be about the average time consumed in conveying 




PONY EXPRESS STATION. 



the mail overland — a valuable saving of time to business men. The 
actual distance from St. Joseph to San Francisco, by the Pony Ex- 
press route, was one thousand nine hundred and ninety-six miles. 

The best of horses and the bravest of men were required for this 
service. For the breakneck speed required was too much for the 
stuff ordinary animals were made of, and the attacks of Indians and 
robbers demanded carriers who would fight or die. The sacrifice of 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



263 



horse flesh and human lives was large. Tales of hardships and perils, 
stranger than fiction, could be written of this " Pony Express " enter- 
prise. All weathers, through storm and sunshine, summer's heat 
and winter's cold, whether peace reigned or savages were on the war- 
path, by day and by night, over prairie and mountain, up hill and down, 
the mail-carrier must pursue his perilous way alone. A horse bridled 
and saddled awaited his' coming at each station, and a fresh rider at 
stated intervals. No time should be lost. The mail must keep mov- 
ing. As soon as one rider dashed up to his last station for rest, 

another, already 
mounted u p o n 
his fresh steed, 
seized the mail, 
and putting 
spurs to his 
horse, was soon 
out of sight. 

The P o n y 
Express was a 
genuine Yankee 
invention ; and 
its remarkable 
success, in spite 
of the tremen- 
dous difficulties, 
caused the Uni- 
ted States gov- 
ernment to es- 
tablish an over- 
land mail route. 
This fact, together with the construction of the telegraph line, in 1862, 
caused the discontinuance of the Pony Express, — one of the most 
novel and exciting methods of doing business the world has ever 
known. Nor should it be forgotten that scarcely twenty-five years have 
elapsed since our national government attempted to carry the mail 
overland to California, and telegraphic connection between the ex- 
tremes of the East and West was established. 

The cut opposite is an exact illustration of the first express line of 
Fargo and Wells over the Rocky Mountains. It was thought to be 
a remarkable triumph over difficulties at that time, and no one 
expected that the method would ever be superseded by anything 




PONY EXPRESS IN MOUNIAIN STORM, 



264 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



better. Yet a decade had scarcely passed away before the comforta- 
ble rail-car was rushing" through these mountains t)n its way to the 
Pacific coast. 

The growth of business, from the discovery of gokl in Colorado, 
was surprising, even before the completion of the railroad to Cali- 
fornia. j\Ir. Crofutt furnishes figures from the books of freighting 




FARGO AND WELLS EXPRESS. 



firms in Atchison, Kan., and he says: "In 1865 this place was 
the principal point on the Missouri River, from which freight was 
forwarded to the Great West, including Colorado, Utah, Montana, 
etc. There were loaded at this place 4,480 wagons, drawn by 7,310 
mules, and 29,720 o.xen. To control and drive these trains, an army 
of 5,610 men was employed. The freight taken by these trains 
amounted to 27,000 tons. Add to these authenticated accounts the 
estimated business of the other shipping points, and the amount is 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



26s 



somewhat astounding. Competent authority estimated the amount 
of freights shipped during that season from Kansas City, Leaven- 
worth, St. Joe, Omaha, and Plattsmouth, as being fully equal, if not 




more than was shipped from Atchison, with a corresponding num- 
ber of men, wagons, mules, and oxen. Assuming these estimates to 
be correct, we have this result: During 1865, there were employed 
in this business 8,960 wagons, 14,620 mules, 59,440 cattle, and 1 1,220 



266 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

men, who moved to its destination 54,000 tons of freight. To accom- 
plish this, the enormous sum of $7,289,300 was invested in teams and 
wagons alone." 

Along the south bank of the l^latte River, emigrant trains, with 
their white-covered wagons, together with immense freight-trains, 
rolled in almost ojie unbroken line. Sometimes these trains ex- 
tended without a break as far as the eye could see, presenting a 
very novel and inspiring scene. 

Many of the teams were a novel spectacle, on account of their 
length and the great loads carried. Mining tools and machinery and 
agricultural implements were all conveyed in this manner over the 
plains, before the railroad was constructed. We think, however, that 
no team was ever seen along the Platte so long and so heavily freighted 
as a mule team which carried boilers and machinery weighing fifty- 
four thousand pounds, from Elko to White Pine, in 1869. The illus- 
tration (p. 265) furnishes a good view of its magnitude. 

Long since the emigrant trains disappeared from the soutli bank 
of the Platte, and the mule was exchanged for the iron horse. The 
railroad runs along the north bank of the river instead of the south, 
which is essentially forsaken. 



UNION PACIFIC RAILWAY. 

The construction of the Union Pacific Railroad across the conti- 
nent was the greatest marvel of our age. The consummation of the 
enterprise settled the high destiny of the New West. From that 
moment old things began to pass away, and all things began to be 
new. Progress was wonderful ; and now it sweeps onward more 
grandly than ever. 

The precipitation of the war of the Rebellion, in 1861, turned the 
attention of Congress to a railroad across the continent. California 
was so widely separated from the other States of the Union, that 
Mexico, or some foreign power, might readily gain possession of it. 
It was well known to some of our public men that other powers were 
looking wistfully to our wealth on the Pacific coast. Under the im- 
pulse of this new development. Congress, in 1862, adopted measures 
for the construction of the Union Pacific Railway, and made July i, 
1876 (the nation's centennial year), the utmost limit of its completion. 
The first contract for the construction of the road was made in 
August, 1S63, but months were consumed in harmonizing conflicting 
interests connected with the location of the road, so that ground was 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



267 



not broken until the fifth day of November, 1865. The building of 
the road commenced at a point on the Missouri River, near Omaha, 
and at the close of January, 1866, forty miles of road had been con- 
structed. 




Some enthusiastic friends of the road predicted, at the ceremony 
of breaking ground, Nov. 5, 1865, that the road would be completed 
in five years ; and their prediction was recorded as the prophecy of 



268 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

enthusiasts. The incredulous . smiled, and opponents declared the 
prediction absurd. General Sherman was reported to have said, be- 
fore work on the road commenced : " I should be unwilling; to buy a 
ticket over it for my grandchildren." Five years thereafter he himself 
rode over it. 

The road was completed in three years, six months, and ten days. 
Two hundred and sixty-five miles were built in 1866; two hundred 
and eighty-five in 1867 ; and the remainder finished May 10, 1869. 
Work on the road was commenced at both ends, and the two build- 
ing parties met at Promontory Point, Utah Territory, on May 10, 
1869, one thousand and eighty-four miles from Omaha, and eight 
hundred and thirty miles from San Francisco. Promontory Point is 
four thousand nine hundred and five feet above the sea. 

That was a great day for our country and the world — driving 
THE LAST SPIKE. A large concourse of people assembled, represent- 
ing nearly every State of the Union, together with several foreign 
countries. They were largely pubHc men, — men who fully appreci- 
ated the greatness and value of the work, — the completion of one 
thousand seven hundred and seventy-four miles of railway in one 
continuous line. The ceremony of laying the last rail, and connect- 
ing the two divisions was assigned to take place at twelve o'clock, 
noon. Mr. Crof utt says : — 

" To give effect to the proceedings, arrangements had been made 
by which the large cities of the Union should be notified of the exact 
minute and second when the road should be finished. Telegraphic 
communications were organized with the principal cities of the East 
and West, and at the designated hour the lines were put in connec- 
tion, and all other business suspended. In San Francisco the wires 
were connected with the fire-alarm in the tower, where the ponder- 
ous bell could spread the news over the city the instant the event 
occurred. Baltimore, Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Cincinnati, 
and Chicago were waiting for the moment to arrive when the chained 
lightning should be loosed, carrying the news of a great civil victory 
over the length and breadth of the land. 

"The hour and minute designated arrived, and Leland Stanford, 
president, assisted by other officers of the Central Pacific, came for- 
ward ; T. C. Durant, vice-president of the Union Pacific, assisted by 
General Dodge and others of the same company, met them at the 
end of the rail, where they reverently paused, while Rev. Dr. Todd, 
of Massachusetts, invoked the divine blessing. Then the last tie, a 
beautiful piece of workmanship, of California laurel, with silver plates 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



'69 



on which were suitable inscriptions, was put in place, and the last 
connecting rails were laid by parties from each company. The last 
spikes were then presented, one of gold from California, one of silver 
from Nevada, and one of gold, silver, and iron from Arizona. Presi- 
dent Stanford then took the hammer, made of solid silver, — and to 
the handle of which were attached the telegraph wires, — and with 
the first tap on the head of the gold spike at twelve, noon, the news 
of the event was flashed over the continent. Speeches were made 
as each spike was driven, and when all was completed, cheer after 
cheer rent the air from the enthusiastic assemblage. 

"Then the 'Jupiter,' a locomotive of the Central Pacific R.R. Co., 
and locomotive No. 1 16, of the Union Pacific R.R. Co., approached from 
each way, meeting on the dividing line, where they rubbed their brown 

noses together, while shak- 
ing hands, as illustrated on 
preceding page." 

The progress since that 
day is strikingly represent- 
ed by contrasting the first 
and last depot of the Cen- 
tral Pacific Railroad. The 
first office of the railroad 
in Sacramento was a good 
match for their first depot. 
We can furnish a correct 
illustration of their first 
office, but not of their first 
depot. 

The reader can readily 
imagine what the first 
depot must have been to 
match the above. The office was built in one afternoon, and cost 
S150. Probably the expense of the first depot was not whittled 
down quite so fine as that ; but its appearance would excite a smile 
now in contrast with the last depot, which a writer describes as 
follows : — 

" It is situated about midway between the bridge over the Sacra- 
mento River and the company's shops, fronts north, on ground filled 
in and specially prepared for that purpose. The main building is 
four hundred and sixteen feet long, and seventy feet six inches wide, 
two story. The front has four large arches in the centre, and eight 




FIRST OFFICE. 



270 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



smaller ones on each side. Three tracks run through the building, 
and a platform twenty-two feet wide. In the rear is an annex, one 
hundred and sixty feet long, and thirty-five feet wide, one story, in 
which is a dining-room, forty by fifty-five feet, fourteen feet high ; 
two waiting-rooms, twenty-six by thirty-five feet. On the first floor 
are ticket, sleeping-car, and telegraph offices, lunch-counter and bag- 
gage-room, news-room, etc. The second story is occupied by the 
offices of the Sacramento Valley Railroad, superintendent of division 
of the Central Pacific, train despatchers, conductors, rooms for storage, 
stationery, etc." 




CENTRAL PACIFIC DEPOT. 



The above is an excellent illustration of the spacious and costly 
depot. 

We spoke of the commencement of the work near Omaha, Neb. 
Few persons appreciate the magnitude of the labor in such an enter- 
prise. There was not a railroad within one hundred and fifty miles 
of Omaha when the ground was broken. Much of the material used 
in building the road was purchased at the luist, and was transported 
by freight-teams over this one hundred and fifty miles ; and laborers 
with their baggage were carried in the same way. The engine of 
seventy horse-power, which the com])any must have to drive their 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



271 



works at Omaha, was carried in wagons from Des Moines, Iowa. 
There was great labor and expense involved in this transportation. 
Then there was no timber suitable for railroad purposes west of 
Omaha for five hundred miles. Indeed, there was little east of 
Omaha within five hundred miles. So that ties were purchased in 
Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York, and shipped to Omaha, — 
one hundred and fifty miles of the distance. — in wagons. Each tie, 
delivered at Omaha, at that time, cost the company $2.50. 



^^=fl 



<<^f^Bj-,^ 



X^ 







INDIANS FIRST VIEW OF THE CARS. 



The construction of the trans-continental railway proved a remark- 
able civilizer. Nothing did so much to put an end to Indian wars, 
and break up organized robbery throughout the New West, as con- 
necting the East with the Pacific coast by rail. San Francisco was 
a month distant from New York by water, and two months by land ; 
but now the tw^o cities are only one week apart. Mails that carried 
to and brought from friends the news monthly, now accomplish the 
errand weekly. The hardships and perils of an overland journey to 



272 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

the Pacific are exchanged for the ease and comfort of Puhman cars, 
which combine the accommodations of home and hotel quite largely. 

Evidently, savage tribes regarded the invasion of the locomotive 
with its train of cars, as the daring assault of a foe more mysterious 
and powerful than any which had hitherto challenged their bravery. 
The shrill, piercing whistle of the engine, pouring .a dense, black 
volume of smoke from its chimney, and the thunder of the train, 
played upon their superstitious souls, to fill them with alarm and 
apprehension. It seemed to them that, for some unknown reason, 
the Great Spirit had resolved to destroy their hunting-grounds and 
homes in the wilderness. The locomotive was to them a monster 
''Jire-zuagon,'" and the train of cars, ''heap zvagoii, no /lossy The 
whole thing was mysterious and wonderful to them. They could not 
comprehend the strange spectacle. At first they viewed the cars 
from the hill-tops at a distance, not daring to come within cannon- 
range of them. 

In time the redskins grew bolder, and, it is claimed, attacked a 
"fire-wagon," for the purpose of capturing it; but they were so 
seriously discomfited that they concluded ''fire-wagon bad medicine!' 
Mr. Hayes, in his "New Colorado, etc.," says: "The graders and 
track-layers often had to fight their way, and there is a tradition 
current of an attempt to stop an express train. It is understood that 
a lariat was stretched across the track, breast high, and held by some 
thirty braves on each side ; but, says the narrator : ' when the engi- 
neer fust see it, he didn't know what on airth wuz the matter ; but in 
a minute more he bust out laughin', and he ketched hold of that 
throttle, an' he opened her out ; an' he struck that there lariat agoin' 
about forty mile an hour, an' he jest piled them braves up everlastin' 
permiscuous, yoic bet ! ' " 

The famous war-chief Mi-ra-ha, of Arizona, hearing of the mighty 
"fire-wagons," gathered a party of A])ache Mohaves, and went on a 
journey of several hundred miles to see the " terrible " machine. 

There are many interesting facts and incidents connected with the 
building of the Union Pacific Railroad worthy of a record here. The 
whole cost of the road from Omaha to the Pacific coast is estimated 
to be $186,498,900. It is not claimed that these figures are exact, but 
they express the approximate cost of the work. There were used in 
the construction of the road about 900,000 tons of iron rails, 1,700,000 
fish-plates, 6,800,000 bolts, 6,126,375 cross-ties, and 23,505,500 spikes. 

Four miles west of Promontory Point is a sign-board, on which is 
inscribed, — 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 273 

"TEN MILES OF TRACK IN ONE DAY." 

Ten miles further west is another board bearing the same inscription, 
and the explanation to this, — the track between those two sign-boards 
was laid in one day, — more track than was ever laid in a day before 
or since. The cause of this extra effort was the rivalry created be- 
tween the Central working-gang west of Promontory and the Union 
working-force east of that point. The Central gang boasted that 
they could lay more track in a day than the Union. The Union track- 
layers accepted the challenge, and laid six miles in one day. Then 
the Central workmen laid seven, to which the Union men responded 
by laying seven and a half miles. Then the Central gang announced 
that they would lay ten miles of track in one day, which the officers 
of the Union declared could not be done, Vice-President Durant 
offering to bet ^10,000 that it could not be done. The Central men 
proposed to establish their claim on the twenty-ninth day of April, 
when there was only fourteen miles of track to be laid, to connect 
with the Union at Promontory Point. Every necessary arrangement 
was made, and on the appointed day, in the presence of the officers 
of the road and a committee from the Union, the work was accom- 
plished. 

Mr. Crofutt describes the manner of doing the work as follows : 
" When the car loaded with rails came to the end of the track, the 
two centre rails on either side were seized with iron nippers, hauled 
forward off the car, and laid on the ties by four men who attended 
exclusively to this. Over these rails the car was pushed forward, and 
the process repeated. Behind these men came a gang of men who 
half drove the spikes and screwed on the iish-plates. At a short 
interval behind these came a gang of Chinamen, who drove home the 
spikes already inserted and added the rest. Behind' these came a 
second squad of Chinamen, two deep on each side of the track. The 
inner men had shovels, the outer ones picks. Together they ballasted 
the track. The average rate of speed at which all these processes 
w^ere carried on was one minute and forty-seven and one-half seconds 
to every two hundred and forty feet of track laid down. Those unac- 
quainted with the enormous amount of material required to build ten 
miles of railroad can learn something from the following figures : It 
requires 25,800 cross-ties, 3,520 iron rails, 55,000 spikes, 7,040 fish- 
plates, and 14,080 bolts, the whole weighing 4,362,000 pounds. This 
material is required for a single track, exclusive of ' turnouts.' 

" To bring this material forward and place it in position, over 



274 MARVELS OF THE XEW WEST. 

4,000 men and hundreds of cars and wagons were employed. The 
discipline acquired in the four years since the commencement of the 
road enabled the force to begin at the usual time in the morning, 
calm and unexcited, and march steadily on to 'Victory,' as the place 
where they rested at 1.30 p.m. was called, having laid cigJit viilcs of 
track in six hours. Here this great ' Central ' army must be fed, but 
Campbell was equal to the requirements. The camp and water train 
was brought up at the proper moment, and the whole force took din- 
ner, including many distinguished guests. After the ' Jionr nooning' 
the army was again on the march, and at precisely 7 p.m. tc7i miles 
and two hundred feet had been eonipleted. 

"When this was done, the 'Union' committee expressed their 
satisfaction and returned to their camj), and Campbell sprang upon 
the engine and ran it over the ten miles of track in forty minutes, 
thus demonstrating that the work was zueil done." 

Our national government has been severely criticised by many of 
its subjects for the liberal aid it rendered to the enterprise. First, 
government granted to the railroad company "every alternate section 
of land for twenty miles, on each side of the road," which would be 
twenty sections, or 12,800 acres for each mile of the road. The aggre- 
gate in acres for the whole road from Omaha to Sacramento, the ter- 
minus of the road when it was first built, was 23,735.104 acres. Gov- 
ernment agreed also to issue its thirty-year six per cent bonds in aid 
of the work as follows : for the least expensive portion of the road 
over the plains, $16,000 per mile; the next most difficult portion, 
$32,000 per mile ; and for the mountainous district, $48,000 per mile. 
These pledges of the government footed up $51,121,632. 

In the commencement of the work, fault-finders appeared in 
almost every grade of society. Statesmen and laymen alike charged 
Congress with "extravagance," " uinvisdoni," "fooling away the 
nation's land and money." Multitudes of the "common pei)ple " 
accepted the criticisms of the more public men, and seemed to take 
it for granted that government had acted without reason in the 
affair. Thus men fretted, grumbled, and bandied hard epithets while 
the work went bravely on. But long since, most of them, seeing 
their folly, abandoned their opposition, until now the dissatisfaction 
is confined chiefly to those who can see no connection between a 
loyal public spirit and national prosperity, — igntnant, impatriotic 
men. The people understand now, that but for the Union Pacific 
Railroad, the government lands over iiuieh of the way, would he 
comparatively valueless. They were so b.'l(M-e there was a prosj^ect 



MARVELS OF ENTICRJ'R/SE. 275 

of the railroad being built. J-5ut on the day of driving the last spike 
they were lifted into market value ; and from that day to this there 
has been a constantly increasing demand for them at twice their 
former value. The best bargain the United States government ever 
made was when it contributed twenty-three million acres of land and 
fifty millions of bonds, to aid in constructing this road to the Pacific ; 
unless, possibly, we except its bargain, when, through President 
Jefferson, it })urchased the " Louisiana Province " of the French 
government for about two cents an acre. 

The intelligent citizens of our country to-day appreciate the re- 
marks of Senator Wilson of Massachusetts, afterwards Vice-President 
of the United States, who said, in the Thirty-Seventh Congress, 
when this project was under discussion: — 

" I give no grudging vote in giving away either money or land. 
I would sink $100,000,000 to build the road, and do it most cheer- 
fully, and think I had done a great thing for my country. What are 
$75,000,000 or $100,000,000 in opening a railroad across the central 
regions of this continent, that shall connect the people of the Atlan- 
tic and Pacific, and bind us together } Nothing. As to the lands, I 
don't grudge them." 

After the road had been completed two years. Senator Stewart, 
from the Committee on the Pacific Railroad, said in his report to the 
United States Senate:--- 

"The cost of the overland service for the whole period — from the 
acquisition of our Pacific coast possessions down to the completion 
of the Pacific railroad — was over $8,000,000 per annum, and this 
cost was constantly increasing. 

"The cost, since the completion of the rcjad, is the annual inter- 
est [which includes all the branches — Ed.] — $3,897,129, — to which 
must be added one-half the charges for services performed by the 
company, about $1,163,138 per annum, making a total expenditure 
of about $5,000,000, and showing a saving of at least $3,000,000 per 
annum. 

" This calculation is upon the basis that none of the interest will 
ever be repaid to the United States, except what is paid by the ser- 
vices, and that the excess of interest advanced over freights is a 
total loss. 

" In this statement no account is made of the constant destruc- 
tion of life and private property by Indians ; of the large amounts of 
money paid by the secretary of the treasury as indemnity for dam- 
ages by Indians to property in the government service on the plains. 



276 iMARl'ELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

under the act of March 3, 1849; of the increased mail facilities; of 
the prevention of Indian wars ; of the increased value of public lands ; 
of the development of the coal and iron mines of Wyoming, and the 
gold and silver mines of Nevada and Utah ; of the value of the road 
in a commercial point of view, in utilizing the interior of the conti- 
nent and in facilitating trade and commerce with the Pacific coast 
and Asia ; and, above all, in cementing the Union and furnishing 
security in the event of foreign wars." 

According to Senator Stewart, the government saves three mil- 
lion dollars annually by the operaticMi of this railroad, so that the sav- 
ing of seventeen years will cover the bonds which it pledged. And 
if the gift of twenty-three million acres of land made salable as many 
more acres and doubled the price, surely no one has any reason to 
criticise the government for the bargain. 



POPUL.ATION. 

Another item should be recorded here, as showing the marvellous 
growth of the West. In i860, the States and Territories on the line 
of the Union Pacific Railway, and immediately contiguous, embraced 
a population of only 554,301, with thirty-two miles of railway, and 
232 miles of telegraph. In 1870 (the expiration of the ten years in 
which the Pacific road was planned and built), the population had in- 
creased to 1,011,971, with 4,191 miles of railway, and 13,000 miles of 
telegraph completed, and hundreds of miles more in progress. The 
investment of capital, too, had grown to be enormous,' amounting to 
$363,750,000, without including investments in mining, cattle-raising, 
agriculture, and other industries. To represent the almost incredible 
growth down to the jiresent time, we must treble, if not quadruple, 
the aforesaid figures. 

The rapid advance of the population of the New West is phe- 
nomenal. Nevada's gain was the smallest, and yet Nevada's gain 
from 1870 to 1880 was fifty per cent. In the same period, California 
and Idaho gained sixty per cent ; Oregon, one hundred per cent ; 
Utah, one hundred and fifty per cent ; Kansas, two hundred per cent ; 
Wyoming two hunchvd and fifty per cent ; Nebraska and Washington 
Territory, three hundred per cent ; Colorado, four hundred jier cent ; 
Arizona, four hundred and fifty per cent ; and Dakota, nine hundred 
per cent. That portion of our country which lies west of the Missis- 
sippi added four millk^n to its population in ten years. The reader 
can make his own estimate as to the time, near at hand, when the 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 277 

population of our country west of the Mississippi will be greater than 
its population east of it. For, " westward the star of empire takes 
its way " at the rate oi fifty feet every twenty-four hours, or tJiree 
and one-Jialf miles each year. 

There are more inhabitants and wealth west of the Mississippi 
River to-day than there were east of it fifty years ago. In 1820, 
Ohio was a wilderness, resounding with the stroke of the pioneer's 
axe ; but now the centre of the population of the United States is 
on its western border. Fifty years from now, its centre of popula- 
tion will be, doubtless, not far this side of the Mississippi River. 
And, more than to any other enterprise, the country is indebted to 
the construction of the Union Pacific Railroad for this growth. 

The State of Nebraska, so recently on the frontier of the " Far 
West " is now quite central. When the city of Washington became 
the national capital, it was too far west to suit many l^astern people. 
It is now altogether one side, as the geography of the country proves, 
and much too far east to suit the inhabitants of the New West. 

The completion of the Union Pacific Railroad put an end to high 
prices. During the winter of 1865-66, the garrison at Fort Sedg- 
wick, and the inhabitants of Julesburg, Nebraska, paid one hundred 
and five dollars per cord for wood, which was the price the govern- 
ment paid by contract. The wood was purchased in Denver at a 
cost of about twenty dollars per cord, and the actual cost of hauling 
it to Julesburg was from sixty dollars to seventy-five dollars per cord, 
llie government allowed contractors to put in what hard wood they 
could get at double price, — two hundred and ten dollars per cord. 
Contractors ceased to "feather their own nests," when the thunder 
of the train broke the silence of prairie and mountain. 

Let the reader return now to the hardships, perils, and sufferings 
which made the New West a place of terror to multitudes a single 
generation ago, that by contrast he may appreciate the almost incred- 
ible achievements of enterprise, in building railroads through a wild 
mountainous country, where so recently explorers starved and died in 
a vain search for a way to the Pacific Slope. 

RAILROADS OVER MOUNTAINS. 

In no way can we exhibit the marvel of enterprise to such advan- 
tage as by a description of railways through the deepest caiions and 
over the highest mountains. The prediction, fifty years ago, that the 
time would come when pleasure-seekers would travel in Pullman cars. 



278 



MAKl'KLS OF THE Xl.W WEST. 



where then explorers died of hunger, would have been received with 
derisive laughter. Vet this strange experience has been realized. 

W'e have alreadv spoken of the Arkansas Canon as a physical 
wonder ; it remains to show how human enterprise has converted it 
into a public thoroughfare, marvellous both in its conception and exe- 
cution. 

It is not known that man or beast ever passed through this remarka- 
ble gorge until the year 1870. 
When the project of con- 
structing a railway through 
it was first made public, it 
was received with doubt and 
ridicule. Engineers said, 
" The thing is impossible." 
After elaborate examination, 
however, and long, thought- 
ful research and study, an en- 
gineer, in whose dictionary 
the word " impossible " was 
never put, was found willing 
and anxious to undertake the 
work. Lender his skilful man- 
agement, the railway was 
built, and a new and scarcely 
dreamed of pleasure offered 
to the public. 

It was necessary to begin 
the work of constructing the 
railway several hundred feet 
above the river, splitting thc 
granite walls downward. 
Workmen were suspendeti 
from the edge of the caiion 
above by ropes, and lowered 
to the spot where operations 
must commence, as seen in the illustration. There they hung, midway 
between the opening above and the bed of the river, until a foothold was 
secured by drilling and splitting. The obstacles and perils attending 
such a remarkable enterprise cannot be overestimated. The engineer, 
with faith and courage enough to undertake a work of such magnitude, 
must be accorded a high place among the world's benefactors. But 




LOCATING THE LINE. 



MARVELS OF KNTKR PRISE. 279 

all difficulties were overcome by patience and perseverance, and the 
marvellous work was accomplished without an accident. The ten 
miles of railway thr()u<^h this caiion cost $1,400,000 (one million four 
hundred tliousand dollars), or one hundred and forty thousand dollars 
per mile. 

The walls of the canon, two thousand feet high, approach nearest 
to each other at the " Royal Gorge," where they are not more than 
thirty feet apart. Here the passage is too narrow for both river and 
railway, so a bridge is suspended over the chasm by rods, over which 
the railway train passes on its way.^ The scene is totally unlike any- 
thing the traveller has witnessed before. It is awe-inspiring and even 
fearful. There were from sixty to seventy passengers on the train 
when the author passed through the caiion in an observation-car. 
Not a word was spoken. No merriment was noticeable. Silent, 
serious thoughtfulness marked every countenance. Several passen- 
gers unconsciously rose to their feet and uncovered their heads, as 
if in the immediate presence of the Author of all this grandeur. 
A woman directly in front of the writer bowed her head and wept. 
A score of others showed their honest sympathy with her by their 
irrepressible emotion, as unbidden tears bedimmed their vision. 

The scene and the occasion of the first railway excursion through 
this caiion was graphically described by the Denver Tribune as fol- 
lows : — 

"The most stupendous achievement of railway engineering over 
Nature's efforts to obstruct the pathway of commerce, was trium- 
phantly achieved on the 7th of May, 1879, by the Atchison, Topeka 
and Santa Fe Railway Company, which on that day made the pas- 
sage of the Grand Canon of the Arkansas, with a train of cars carry- 
ing an excursion party of ladies and gentlemen, numbering over two 
hundred persons. This rock-bound river pathway became known to 
Spanish missionaries as early as the year 1642. From that time it 
was not known that any animal life had ever passed through it suc- 
cessfully until the winter of 1870. The approach to the Canon is 
gradual. The distant hills draw nearer, and the valley of the Arkan- 
sas becomes narrower and narrower, until the river is shut in closely 
on both sides by high mountains, sloping gently away and covered 
with verdure. Then the slope of the mountains becomes more per- 
pendicular, and the hills become higher, until suddenly the river is 
completely shut in by mountains with mighty tops. The roar and 
rattle of the train grows louder and echoes up and down. The train 

' See page 5. 



28o MARVELS OF THE NEW I! EST. 

is fairly in the canon. It moves slowly. The nn)untain walls are of 
a dizzy height, and so close together that, looking ahead, they appear 
simply to form a crevice, a huge, awful, crooked crevice, through 
which the miserable little train is timidly crawling. The curves of 
the caiion are superb. They constitute the finishing touch to its 
grandeur, and fill the mind with a full appreciation of this great 
miracle of nature. But the Royal Gorge ! Imagine two almost per- 
fectl}' perpendicular walls rising to the height of two thousand feet, 
those walls presenting jagged and irregular masses of rock that on 
the railroad side hang over the train all creviced and ready to fall in 
thousands of tons. The road-bed is cut out of the solid rock, and 
masses of this hang over it, stretching out a hundred feet. One 
cannot look up to the top of this wall on account of those projecting, 
irregular bluffs, but the height to the top, even as measured by the 
eye, disturbs the faculties and brings on vertigo. The cooped-up 
Arkansas rushes madly by, a narrow thread, made still more so by the 
rocks thrown into it. There is not room to step from the train with- 
out pitching into the river. Not a word is uttered. The engineer 
whistles occasionally, and timid folks look for the rocks to fall. It is 
really a strain on the mind to take it in ; and this can be only feebly 
done on a single trip. Two thousand feet above you are the tops 
of the mountain walls. You are imprisoned in a crack thirty feet 
wide, and are partially under one mountain wall. You can see on 
the opposite side the gradations of the verdure, rich below, impover- 
ished above. And the curves become more awful as you look ahead 
or back. 

" There was no sun in the Gorge, but it slanted down the opposite 
mountain wall as the party returned through the caiion, increasing 
the surpassing beauty of the scene." 

Leaving the Arkansas Canon, and traversing the upper Arkansas 
Valley, as lovely as it is narrow, the train begins to scale the heights 
of Marshall Pass. The serrated peaks of the Sangre de Cristo are 
in full view at the west, and the scene is indescribably grand. Two 
ponderous engines puff and tug upward with their train of human 
freight. Looking far away towards the summit, a narrow rim or line 
is seen. " That is the track over which we are to pass to the sum- 
mit," said the conductor. Winding around the mountains, through 
the deep, wild ravines, ascending from one hundred and fifty to two 
hundred and ten feet to the mile, in one hour the train triumphantly 
gains the summit, ten thousand seven hundred and sixty feet above 
the sea. Such a panorama here opens to the view ! The Sangre de 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



281 




The above cut shows the marvellous railroading over Marshall Pass. The Pass is entered almost im- 
percept.bly from Poncha Pass, and the whole wonderful ascent might very readily be imagined as one and 
the same. The summit .s almost eleven thousand feet above the sea, and the tortuous method by which 
the daring engineers of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad have achieved this summit can best he un- 
derstood by studying this cut, which illustrates the alignment of the track. 



282 



.v.iA'r/:/s ()/■• THF. x]-:\\- wfst. 




Cristo Range looms up in the distance, wcaiing a crown ol snow that 
glistens in the distance, while the great San Luis Park, larger than 
the State of Connecticut, stretches out at its base. Westward the 
mountain peaks are less towering, but the scene is no less inspiring. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 283 

Looking down into the T(jmichi Valley, two thousand feet, perhaps, 
the railway track is seen doubling back and forth in its zigzag course 
to Gunnison City. The vision is unobstructed, and the traveller 
begins to comprehend what a joy it is to stand upcMi tlie "Conti- 
nental Divide," and "survey creation round." How is it possible for 
the railroad train to reacli the valley below in .safety, turning sharp 
curv^es, rounding abrupt headlands, and gliding along the verge (jf 
awful precipices } But it d(jes ; and when the delighted passenger 
looks backward and upward from the valley to the cold, bleak, be- 
wildering height from which he has descended, he wonders still more 
how it was done. 

This route is embraced in what the managers of the Rio Grande 
Railway denominate "The Scenic Route" ; and truly it is all of that. 
Any railway crossing the Rocky Mountains or the Sierra Nevadas 
must necessaril}- take a route that is "scenic." Grand and beauti- 
ful scenery exists in profusion everywhere. Rising from extended 
"plains" into mountainous regions, through canons whose mighty walls 
on either side tower two thousand feet towards the sky, with here 
and there a pinnacle hundreds of feet higher, peaks of different shape 
and size piled one above another, cliff on cliff ascending to dizzy 
heights, rushing torrents far, far below the track, and silvery cascades 
leaping from dizzy summits, with here and there a park or lake 
stretching out for miles its fruitful acres or silver sheen, eight thou- 
sand feet above the sea, — such a route jDossesses enough of the 
grand, beautiful, and sublime to challenge the appellation, " scenic." 

A description of a trip through Platte Canon will still further 
exhibit the marvels of railroad enterprise in the New West. 

Twenty miles from Denver the train entered the canon upon a 
shelf so narrow as to suggest the thought that railroad builders were 
willing to accept the smallest favor from the contesting Platte tor- 
rent. Once within the canon, the train began to ascend the steep 
grade, winding its serpentine way under the shadow of overhanging 
rocks and frowning cliffs, round and round, higher and higher, up, 
up, up, often rising two hundred feet to the mile, with castellated 
walls towering a thousand feet above, and here and there a moun- 
tain-peak shooting two or three thousand feet into the air, present- 
ing a scene of grandeur and sublimity that baffles description. We 
vv'ere filled with surprise and wonder. Every curve disclosed new 
glories ; every mile bore witness to the indomitable perseverance and 
tact of man. 

The "tug of war" to the locomotives was on the home stretch 



284 



MARVELS OF THE XEW WEST. 



between Webster and Kenosha Divide, which is 10,139 fect above 
the sea. The ascent is steep and perilous, and the railway track 
doubles back and forth upon itself several times in order to scale the 
heights. It is two miles to the summit ; but that point cannot be 
reached without winding about, going eight or ten miles to ascend 
two. At a point near Webster, the conductor requested the passen- 
gers to look down into the valley from whence they had come. The 
descent to the valley was almost perpendicular, and the distance from 
fifteen hundred to two thousand feet. Obeying the request, we 

looked down, and lo ! 
there nestled in the 
valley the neat lit- 
tle village we had 
left some time be- 
fore directly under 
us, the houses ap- 
pearing no larger 
than hen-coops, and 
a horse and cart on 
the street resem- 
bling a child's toy 
In^-se and cart. A 
sense of danger came 
over us as we gazed 
for a moment and 
then turned away 
from a mar\el that 
one does not care 
to view too long. 
From Kenosha Divide the train descended into South Park, intro- 
ducing the sight-seer to a spectacle for which he is wholly unjMV- 
parcd, — a park level as a house floor, containing two thousand two 
hundred square miles, nine thousand five hundred feet above the level 
of the sea, and completely walled with mountain peaks, covered 
with perpetual snow. The illustration furnishes the curve of the rail- 
way at the head of the park, with a view of the enormous plain and 
the tall snowy range. 

Before the tiiue of railroads, a line of stages passed along the 
northerly rim of the ]xu-k, over Mosquito Pass, which is twelve 
tliousand feet aho\e the sea. This was the liighest stage line in the 
world. 




HEAD OF SOUTH PARK. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



285 



Some of the heaviest railroad work and most remarkable scenery 
of the New West are found between South Park and Leadville by 
the way of Breckinridge. An observ^er describes the scenic features 
of the route so vividly, that we quote him in full. " From Como, 
with the first revolution of the wheels, the climb for the crest between 
two oceans begins. Ahead are the hills, snow-crowned ; behind, the 
Park where a hundred shades blend in a picture vast and rare. In 
the first gulch traversed, miners are washing gold. Towns and 




STAGE LINE OVER MOSQUITO PASS. 



ranches dot the receding levels. Unexpected tints develop with 
every foot of progress. The feelings of the moment admit of no 
record. As timber line is approached there is something awful in 
the grandeur. The mountains tower lifeless and sombre. Even the 
trees are dead and standing gaunt and fire scarred. Far below a 
stream crooks itself along the valley. At Boreas, 11,496 feet above 
the sea, the summit is reached. From this point the view is sublime 
and full of warmth. The trees are dense and luxuriant. Their piney 
odor fills the summer air. Ten Mile range rises in the near distance, 



:S6 



M.iRi'j'is OF Tin: m:ii' irj.sr. 




ponderous and i)urc under its snow. You are looking- down the 
valley of the Blue, by many considered the loveliest encompassed by 
the Rockies. Over it is a blue-gray mist like a veil, that parts at the 
touch of the sun. Mines in every directit)n place romance and reality 



MARl'lCLS O/'- JCNTIIRJ'RJSE. 



287 



hand in hand. The Atlantic Slope fades from si;;ht. An old Ute 
trail can just be discerned on the banks of the stream, lost now and 
again in the trees. Pacific Peak frowns down snowily, heedless that 
summer winds are playing about its base. It is full of silver and 
gold, and men are delving for it." 

The illustration affords the reader a fine view fjf the railway in its 
upward c(jurse t(j the mountain summit, winding about among the 
peaks, which are marvellous in size and numbers, until the laboring 
locomotive halts like a conqueror upon the crest. 

The writer quoted speaks (;f "timber line." "Timber line " is the 




ABOVE TIMBER LINE. 



altitude above which vegetation ceases. The altitude varies from 
10,500 to 11,500 feet, and is too bleak and cold for tree or shrub to 
live. Barrenness and desolation, or perpetual snow, meet the eye 
above the altitude named. Our illustration shows very clearly what 
" timber line " is. 

The "Alpine Tunnel" is reached through "Chalk Creek Canon," 
— a ride fjf wonderful interest. Some tourists have declared that 
this ride cannot be duplicated in the whole world ; that neither writer 
nor painter can do justice to the attractions. From personal obser- 
vation we affirm that some of the wildest scenery which we saw in 
the Rocky Mountains was seen here. In some localities it ceased to 



288 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



be grand and became awful. The thoui;ht of penetrating such an 
"abyss of desolation " in a Pullman car would have seemed absurd but 
for the fact that ours was doing that very thing. A photographic 
view in this canon, at an interesting point, will give a good idea of 
the wild, rough, and desolate appearance of the gorge. 

We remember with peculiar interest a descent into a narrow valley, 
where, in order to ascend the mountains on the opposite side, the 
railway made a detour of several miles, skirting a lot of five or six 
acres or more in performing the feat. We drew a plan of the road 
in our note-book at the time, and subsequently found a pictorial 
representation of it (see following page). 




At a point eight or ten miles from the Alpine Tunnel, a passen- 
ger said, pointing to the west, "See that black spot yonder! that is 
the tunnel." The "black spot " appeared to be about as large as a 
man's hat, and a mile away. All were surprised to be told that it was 
distant eight or ten miles. 

"The tunnel is above timber-line," continued our informant, "too 
high up for anything to grow." 

" What is the altitude .^ " we asked. 

" Eleven thousand six hundred and twenty-three feet above the sea, 
the highest railway in the world, exccjit one in the South American 
Andes." 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



289 




290 MAKl-KLS OF THE XFAV WEST. 

The Uuinol is one ihcnisaiul seven luuulieil ani-l seventy-three feet 
long, witli approaehes whieh adil eig-lit hundred feet more, and is six 
hundred feet beneath the I'ass. It conducts the passeni;er from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific Slope in a few minutes. 

Nearly two years were occupied in buildinp^ this tunnel. " Its 
twenty thousaml lineal feet of California reil-wood linini; was brought 
up on pack-horses over trails which had known the touch of no hoof 
but the mountain sheep's, and where man himself had scarce dared 
to venture. Operations were carried on from both ends, and, despite 
the curvature, when the respective gangs first caught the flash of 
each other's lamps, they were less than one inch out of the way as 
the engineer had mapped it for them. The great expense was only 
warranted by the greatness of the country, which is now fastened to 
the outer world by this link of stvgian darkness." 

The point in the tunnel where the train passes from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific Slope is at the centre ; and the writer whom we have 
just quoted says: "The impetus tells the moment it is crossed, and 
the engines, before goaded to their work, have to be held in severe 
curb by the courageous dri\ ers. Two drops of water, such as con- 
tinuallv fall from the roof, alight hut half an inch ajxat. Trembling 
a second in the balance, each starts with its fellows; and when they 
]v\w finally the ocean, there is the span of a continent between them," 

The reailer may be interested, at this point, in the following about 
luuopean tunnels. "At the jnesent time the Alpines are pierced by 
three remarkably long tunnels, entering Italy from France, Switzer- 
land, and Austrian Tyrol, respectively, and called according to the 
mountain chains that are traversed, the J\lt. Cenis, St. Gothard, and 
Arlberg tunnels. Of these ]\It. Cenis is seven miles and three-quar- 
ters in length. Its cost was 515,000,000. The St. Gothard tunnel 
is nine miles and a quarter in length, and cost 513,500,000, the 
diminution in expense being due jirineipally to the more rapid 
progress of the work by improvements in the drilling-machines. 
The Arlberg tunnel is shorter than either Mt. Cenis and St. Gothard, 
being only six miles and a half. The last and most formidable rival 
will be the Simplon tunnel, by which the existing line from Geneva 
to Martigni and Brieg will be carried through the mountains to 
Dumo d'Ossola, and so on to Pallanza or Stresa on the Lago I\Tag- 
giore. As this tunnel will be commeneetl at a nnieh lower level 
than any of the others, it will neeessarih' be large, the rough esti- 
mate being twelve miles anil a half and the estimated cost somewhere 
about 520.000,000." 



MARVjiLs OF j:nt/:rj'rjse. 



291 




AROUND THE 



292 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

Emerging from the tunnel upon the Pacific slope, the scene is 
indescribable. The train creeps cautiously around the Palisades, 
pausing a few moments for the passengers to take in a view which a 
trip around the world cannot furnish. 

Here the Palisades rise perpendicularly several hundred feet 
above the track (narrow-gauge), which is hewn out of its side. More 
than a thousand feet below, the railway, over which the train will 
pass, is visible, resembling a narrow shelf in the side of the mountain. 
Two thousand feet and more below is Quartz Creek, running like a 
thread of silver through the valley. Poised upon this shelf, with 
unsurpassed grandeur above, around, and beneath, the Christian 
observer is filled with "wonder, love, and praise." The height is 
perilous, and the traveller finds himself clutching tightly the plat- 
form-rail as he looks down into the deep abyss at his feet ; yet devoid 
of fear. The scene is so novel, so overpowering, and bewitching in 
its effects, that there is no place for fear. An observer said, what 
other observers can appreciate, " One forgets that an overturned 
coach would hurl him thousands of feet down into the abyss, and 
feels that if such a catastrophe were to happen while his eyes feasted 
on that glorious landscape, he would die happy." 

" How many feet do you think it is down into the valley.'" we 
inquired of a fellow-traveller, in whose face could be seen traces of 
alarm. 

"I have no idea," he answered solemnly, adding, after a moment's 
hesitation, "we are not far from eternity," — a remark that is true of 
us mortals at almo.st any time and anywhere ; perhaps a little more sig- 
nificant and impressive up there clinging to the Palisades, nearly twelve 
thousand feet above the sea. Nevertheless, all things considered, it 
is true, doubtless, that a man is no nearer eternity when he emerges 
from the "Alpine Tunnel " than he is on the "Great Plains." There 
have been no accidents there ; every precaution against accident has 
been provided without regard to expense, not the least of which is the 
instant stopping of the cars by automatic pressure in case of disaster. 
We do not deny that there is more danger in travelling by rail over 
mountains than there is over plains ; but the additional novelty and 
pleasure offsets the peril. While I am writing, the news comes that 
the air-break of a freight train near Marshall Pass became useless, 
when the train dashed forward with constantly accelerating speed, 
until, going at the rate of fifty i»r sixty miles an hour, the locomotive 
leaped from the track down into the gorge hundreds of feet below, 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



^93 



carrying the twenty loaded cars with it, — a complete wreck of 
everything. 

Mr. Crofutt relates a thrilling incident in P^cho Caiion, illustrative 
of the foregoing : — 

" Mr. Miles, or ' Paddy,' as he was familiarly called, was foreman 
to the Casement brothers, who laid the track of the Union Pacific 
Railroad. One morning, Paddy started down Pxho Caiion with a 
long train of flat cars, sixteen in number, loaded with ties and iron 
rails for the road below P2cho City, where were then, as now, the sta- 




'■ ^*!»'''T 



THE RUNAWAY TRAIN. 



tions, switches, etc. The reader will remember that from the Divide 
to the mouth of Echo Caiion is a heavy grade, no level place on which 
cars would slack their speed. 

"The train had proceeded but a few miles down the canon, going 
at a lively rate, when the engineer discovered that the train had 
parted, and four loaded cars had been left behind. Where the train 
parted, the grade was easy, hence that portion attached to the loco- 
motive had gained about half a mile on the stray cars. But when 
discovered they were on heavy grade and coming down on the train 
w^ith lightning speed. What was to be done .'' The leading train could 
not stop to pick them up, for at the rate of speed at which they were 



294 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

approaching, a collision would shiver both trains, destroying them and 
the lives of those on board. 

" There were two men — Dutchmen — on the loose cars, who might 
put on the brakes and stop the runaway. The whistle was sounded, 
but they heard it not ; they were fast asleep behind the pile of ties. 
On came the cars, fairly bounding from the track in their unguided 
speed, and away shot the locomotive and train. Away they flew, on, 
around curves and over bridges, past rocky points and bold headlands ; 
on with the speed of the wind, but no faster than came the cars be- 
hmd him. 

" ' Let on the steam ! ' cried Paddy ; and with the throttle chock 
open, .with wild, terrible screams of the whistle, the locomotive 
plunged through the gorge, the mighty rocks sending back the 
screams in a thousand ringing echoes. 

" ' Off with the ties ! ' shouted Paddy once more, as the whistle 
shouted its warning to the station men ahead to keep the track 
straight and free, for there was no time to pause — that terrible train 
was close on to them, and if they collided, the canon would have a 
fearful item added to its history. On went the train past the side- 
tracks, the almost frantic men throwing off the ties, in hopes that 
some of them would remain on the track, throw off the runaways, 
and thus save the forward train. Down the gorge they plunged, the 
terror keeping close by them, leaping along, — almost flying, said one, 
who told us the tale, — while the locomotive strained every iron nerve 
to gain on its dreaded follower. Again the wild scream of the loco- 
motive, of 'switches open,' rung out on the air, and was heard and 
understood in Echo City. The trouble was surmised, not known, but 
the switches were ready ; and if the leading train had but the distance, 
it could pass on, and the following cars be switched off the track and 
allowed to spend their force against the mountain side. On shot the 
locomotive, like an arrow from the bow, the men throwing o\'er the 
ties until the train was well-nigh unloaded, when just as they were 
close to the curve by which the train arrives at the station, they saw 
the dreaded train strike a tie, or something equally of service, and 
with a desperate plunge rush down the embankment into the little 
valley and creek below. ' Down brakes,' screamed the engine, and 
in a moment more the cars entered Echo City, and were quietly 
waiting on the side-track for further developments. The excited 
crowd, alarmed by the repeated whistling, was soon informed of the 
cause of these screams, and immediately went up the track to the 
scene of the disaster to bring in the dead bodies. When they arrived. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



295 



they found the poor unfortunates sitting on the bank unharmed, hav- 
ing just woke up. The first they knew of the trouble was when they 
were pitched away from the broken cars on the soft greensward. 

The debris of 
car frames, 
wheels, and ties, 
gave them the 
first intimation 
they had re- 
c e i V e d that 
something was 
the matter." 

Yes, there is 
danger, but 
there is also de- 
light ; and the 
fascination of 
the latter more 
than counterbal- 
ances the reali- 
ty of the former. 
The descent 
from the Pali- 
sades is made by 
the "Hair- Pin 
Curve," so 
named from the 
resemblance 
which the curve 
in the road 
bears to a hair- 
pin. 

The array of 
mountains, and 
the splendors of 
■* the scene on 
every hand, do not diminish on leaving the Palisades. Grand beyond 
comparison rises the Uncompahgre, 14,235 feet above the sea, a mon- 
arch among the mountain peaks, leaning in royal dignity against the 
horizon, and looking dowm from his pinnacle of fame upon the les- 
ser peaks around him. 




UNCOMPAH iRE PEA^ 



296 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



lu'c this the reader has inquired within himself, why raih'oads in 
the Rocky Mountains are not blockaded with snow through the 
winter. At the I-^ast, where the snow-fall is far less than it is among 
the mountains of the West, railroads are frequently blocked with 
snow for several days. And yet, it is claimed that, on the whole, 
trains on the mountain-roads are not so frequently delayed by snow 
as trains are in the East. It was not so, however, in the infancy of 
these railways, as the long and expensive blockade of February and 
March, 1869, on the Union Pacific, proves. When the railroad across 
the continent was built, it was known that snow-sheds or galleries, 
would be necessa- 
ry over the Sierra 
Nevada Moun- 
tains, where the 
snow is often from 
sixteen to twent)- 
feet deep. ]Uit 
such a safeguan 
against hca\y 
snows was not 
thought to be ne- 
cessary in the 
Rockies, until ex- 
perience exposed 
the mistake. Then 
snow-fences were 
resorted to for pro- 
tection, as in the 
East, but in many 
localities they 

l^rovcd useless. Hence, snow-sheds are the chief reliance now. 
The above cut gives a tine view of a curve in the Central Pacific 
Railway, on the Sierra Nevada Mountains, with the snow-sheds. 

On one section of this railway there are twenty-eight miles of 
continuous snow-sheds, ineluding se\eral tunnels from one to sixteen 
hundred feet in length. If all tlie snow-sheds built b)- tlie L^nion 
and Central Pacific were placed in line, thoy would extend near))' a 
hundred miles, erected at a cost of one million dollars. They are 
built in the most substantial manner, stoni' and the heaxiest timber 
being used. The following cut shows the interior of a snow-shed. 

"Snow-slides" are more perilous than snow-storms. Hence 




SNOW GALLERIES, SIERRA NEVADA MOUNTAINS, 



MARVELS OF EXTKRrHlSF.. 



297 



Sheds on the mountain sides are bfilt so ns to conduct the avalanche 
over the roof .nto the valley below ; so that while the passenger tra n 
ghdes .s:,fdv through the artificial gallery, a mighty avalanch " 




INTERIOR OF SNOW-SHEDS 



o ™,1 :ii t, ','"" ";■;■' "■ ■■•"" '"■■^' f°"y f-' ^-l'' 'he hamlet 
ti veTv fv I "^^ " " ""™"''"' '^^ "'^^^'^•^"y °" =• compara- 

nd fe^nilT"' " " '""' ""' " -^'^"P ™°f- "^^- ""^ ""-■■■ b'.ild- 
mg designed to support a heavy weight of snow. 



298 MARVELS OF THE AEW WEST. 

A good idea of the niagnitude of a snow-slide may be derived from 
the faet that, in the winter of 1883-84, a slide completely buried a 
minini;; town in one of the canons of the Rocky Mountains already 
described, destroying most of the buildings. It is claimed that a 
snow-slide in the Animas Caiion, two years ago, was a half-mile in 
length, and when it landed in the deej) gorge below, the snow was 
forty feet deep. A still more disastrous slide, at the Virginius mine, 
near Ouray, was reported by a Colorado paper as follows : — 

" When the avalanche descended upon the boarding-house at four 
o'clock, Saturday, there were eleven men in it, some asleep in their 
bunks and others waiting to go on a night shift ; while Armstrong 
and Shieldler were in the kitchen. Boyle escaped through an open- 
ing and ran for assistance, and all the men at the mines were speedily 
engaged in tunnelling the snow to save the buried men. 




THE GREAT SNOW-PLOUGH. 



"The party from Ouray, which started out Saturday, reached the 
post-office that night, having had to abandon their horses and use 
snow-shoes. Reaching the Monongahela mine, they found the Vir- 
ginius workmen there with four corpses. Sleds were made for the 
dead Bodies, and the parties started yesterday to return to Ouray, 
David Reed in front breaking the trail. Just as they reached Cum- 
berland basin, another snow-slide came down on David Reed, and in 
a second had carried him into the air and over a precipice before the 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 299 

eyes of the horror-stricken men. I'ollowin*^ in another instant, a 
second snow-sHde descended upon the whole party, carrying away 
the thirteen men. 

" The sleds tliey were dragging and the corpses of the men went 
nearly two thousand feet down the mountain with the slide, four of 
them being hurled over a precipice five hundred feet high. Superin- 
tendent Reed was carried to the edge of a precipice, where a tree 
caught and held him. The first man to escape from the slide was 
Doyle, who arose bruised and dazed, and looking around, spied hands 
and feet protruding from the snow all round. He went to work to help 
tlie buried, each man as fast as rescued assisting to save the others 
till all were rescued. Tl-ic bodies of the fcjur men killed at Virginius 
lie under twenty feet of snow, and probably will remain there until 
spring." 

The Central Pacific Railway has a mammoth snow-plough which 
rests upon two four-wheeled trucks. It is twenty-eight feet long, ten 
and a half feet wide, thirteen and a quarter high, and weighs forty- 
one THOU.SAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND .SIXTY POUNDS ! It WaS OUCC 

driven by ten loc(jmotives into a snow-bank on the Sierra Nevada 
Mountains at the rate of sixty miles an hour. 

In this connection the following statement by the L(mdon Times 
will be read with interest : — 

" A statistical memoir lately issued by the Italian government en- 
ables us to form some idea of the great destruction caused annually by 
avalanches in the Alpine districts of Italy and the Tyrol. In the single 
district of Val di Susa two avalanches fell on Jan. 18 ; one, at Bev- 
ies, between Mxilles and Salbertand, was estimated at abcnit sixty 
metres long and six deep, and slid dcnvn the slope a distance of about 
a kilometre. Its volume is supi)osed to have been three hundred 
and sixty thousand cubic metres, and the weight of snow composing 
it was forty-five thousand tons. It destroyed sixteen houses and 
killed forty-three persons. llie second avalanche of Jan. 18 fell 
near Venaus, was one hundred and fifty metres long, its volume was 
about three million cubic metres, and it bore nearly a quarter of a 
million tons of snow. But although the slide extended to nearly four 
kilometres, only twenty-four houses were wrecked by it and six per- 
sons killed. A third avalanche, which fell at Maflotto, and was com- 
puted to contain little more than one thousand six hundred tons' 
weight of snow, was much more destructive, killing seventeen persons 
and destroying eighteen homes." 



}00 



.u.iA'iA/.s or nil-: xi-.w wisr. 




ovi'.k \i:iA I'Ass. riiKouiii loi.ria" corcik. 

At ci<;ht ilitt'orcnt points tlu- l)on\oi& Rii) Ciraiulc Railway has 
crossed the RiK'kv Mountains, instead of piercing them with lontj 
and dismal tininels. The altitude attained in the passai;e of Veta 



')/■ /-N/ /-u /'/,■/:>/■ 



301 



Pass is iiol. so j.Mc;il 
srcncry is iiol less r <■ 
(,f l.;i V.-t;i Moiml.iiii, 



ll,;il Ml AlpiiM- 01 ,VI;usl,;.ll p.r/,.-,, hut i|h; 
l:;iM'-. 'I !)'■ ;r,' .-i,! h.-.-i,,:, ;iloii;'_ tl,.- h;f,(: 
;< 'I<-Iil<;, ;i1 Wu: \u:u\ >,\ wliir I. sl;iiuh, )jiii,,|. 



iVIoiitil;iiii, 'Icfi;iii1 ;in'l 1 1 '.wiiiii;',. 'I 1 
l;iiii l)V " iii'lii<-r Ii<,ii," ;iinl 'I'HiMcs 





III ;i ;.^ro'(Vc, 

lit III fill- sid'-', of 

i|i< iiioiin1,;iin, 

/i.i'liii;', liitli.:) ;iii'l 

iliiflicr rjvcf tlic 

,.n\!'r(: (\<: Cliti ,to 

1; -I \i!^<:, wliif h if, 

' rr)sscs at. VcLa 

I'ass at an altitiirU; 

of nin'- f,tioijs;.nr| 

three limiflre^l .u,'] 

i.hirty-ninc feci.. A 

bowlder star t e rl 

I r o tn tfjis point 

•yjes I liMii'lerinj.^ 

'lovvM tlie preeipi 

us w;i.lls into fix: 

deep, terrif;]e iJ/>r!j:/: 

U'.ij'j^mL, '^AiiCiRE OL CHKi'..io ;-!Ai;CiL. Ik:1ow, a mile .'i,w;i.y, 

A trjiirist christened the railway at this interesting pr^int " I<An.i<f;Ai> 

AJ50V1'. '1 inc ei.rxjus," because, as a matter of fact, tempests raj^e, and 

the artillery of heaven thunders and lipjhtens bf;low the track. 

Passengers enjoy a sublime view from tfie train at Veta Pass. 
Looking eastward, the sky shuts down uf^on tlie dist.'int plains, while, 
at the west, the majestic form of .Sierra Jilanca, the hi^^hest mountain 



302 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



peak in this country, rises grandly fourteen thousand four hundred 
and sixty-four feet. To the south, the symmetrical " Spanish Peaks " 
stand forth so lovely and yet grand in their appearance as to seem 
phantom-like. 

The peaks are respectively twelve thousand seven hundred and 
twenty and thirteen thousand six hundred and twenty feet high, and 
are known also as "The Twin Sisters," their Indian name being 
Wahatoga, which means "breast." These two mountains stand out 
so boldly as to seem almost separated from the range to which they 
belong. In a clear 

day they have been ^^' -^ ^_^ 

seen from Denver, - '-^- : ~" 5^^=="" 

two hundred miles. -.--^^ ' -^ 

From Veta Pass "^ 

the train descends, 
by a zig-zag course, 
into San Luis Park 
— a level tract of 
1 a n cl measuring 
eight t h o u s a n ( 
square miles, anc 
containing over 
five million acres, 
larger than the 
whole State of 
Massachusetts. 
The change from 
mountain to prai- 
rie scenery contrib- 
utes largely to the 

novelty and pleasure of the trip. The entrance to San Luis Park is 
a beautiful picture in itself. P'ort Garland is located there for the 
defence of settlers against the Indians. The buildings are all adobe, 
that is, built of sun-burnt brick, making a neat, attractive little village. 
The fort will soon be abandoned, no doubt, as the danger from In- 
dian depredations has ceased to exist. 

It is twenty miles and more from Antonito to the summit of the 
beautiful mesa which the railway traverses. " The ride up this 
mesa, for over twenty miles, is one of the most delightful imagin- 
;il)U'. The railway mounts the heights by an easy grade, winding in 
labyrinthine curves among gras.sy knolls and parks of dark green 




FORT GARLAND. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



303 



pines, and pifions, allowing the passengers to measure the elevation 
by the plains below, and affording a hundred different views of Sierra 
Blanca, the Sangre de Christo range, and the smooth outlines of the 
Antonio Mountains." At one place, the railway doubles upon itself 
twice, making three parallel tracks in the distance of a few rods, and, 
from its shape, as represented in the cut, is called "The Whiplash." 




■ -^^Sf^r^'Ur^rihr-: 




A waggish traveller, dilating upon the great pleasure to be de- 
rived from a ride over this mesa in a Pullman car, says that it is the 
best illustration he has found of being " carried to the skies on 
flowery beds of ease." 

In this part of Colorado the "Garden of the Gods" is repeated 
in numerous monumental rocks which appear among the pines, rising 
in fantastic columns, some of them nearly as high as the trees. The 
artist has produced an excellent representation of one of the tallest. 

One of the mo.st remarkable curves of this railway occurs in one 
of the wildest localities known. In the valley' beneath the road are 



304 



M.lRllJ.S OF THE NFAl' 11' EST. 



numerous tall jMne and hemlock trees, with many monumental rocks 
rising high and dismal among them, as if a cemetery for departed 
gods had been laid out there, and the silence of the dead had been 




unbroken until ihc daring enterprise of civilization penetrated the 
strange solitude. It is known as "Phantom rurve." With the 
monument-shaped rocks ..n ..ne side, and the castellated cliffs, hve 
or six hundred feet high, on the other, the scene is strangely 'wild 
and mysterious. 



MARVELS OF ENTERl'RfSE. 



305 



At one point on " Phantom Curve " the first view of Toltec Tun- 
nel is obtained — so far aw^ay that it appears only as a small black 
spot on the face of the cliffs. 

The reader can but partially imagine the grandeur of the scenery 
viewed from the train at the opening of the tunnel, which is cut six 
hundred feet through solid rock. A writer says of it : " Here the 
beauty and the grandeur of the scenery are beyond description. All 
the features of the landscape are on a Titanic scale. The track over 
which the train has just passed can be seen circling the brow of 
the mountain for miles, — a tiny, yellowish thread. Far beyond the 
distant heights that shut in the valley rises the round top of San 
Antonio Mountain, while across the valley the opposite mountains 
rise higher and higher in vast, receding, wooded slopes. The narrow 



iil'- m 



^ ' 4: i 



WTi 




PHAInTOM CUR^iE. 



vale, with its silvery stream and park-like groves of pine and aspen, 
— among which it would be delightful to camp during the long days 
of summer, — recalls the happy valley of the Abyssinian princes. 
Nor is color wanting to complete the charm of the picture. The 
dark hue of the pines, the light green and white of the shivering 
aspen, and the red and gray that alternate in the cliffs, add their 
subtle charms to the sublime panorama. When the train approaches 
the end of the wall, the passengers look almost straight down to 
where the stream emerges in foaming cascades from the jaws of Tol- 
tec Gorge. Down ! down ! How little and how much the word 
may mean ! Gazing from some lofty church-spire, or from the top of 
one of the towers of the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, more than 
two hundred feet high, who does not grow faint and pale, and feel his 
heart thrcjbbing fiercely in his breast ? But do you call that depth ? 



3o6 



J/.IA'17:/.S OF J HE NKll' IIKST. 




:r *' 



gpli*-^-;^ 



TOLTEC TUNNEL. 



MARVJ'ILS OF KNTKRPR/SE. 



307 



Double that distance downward from the railway track at Toltcc 
Gorj^e, and you have hardly begun the descent. The stone you toss 
from your hand drops far below, and you hear it strike again and 
again, hundreds added to hundreds of feet distant, and yet silence 
does not signify that it has reached the bottom ; it is simi)ly out of 
hearing. Double the distance again, so far that the strongest voice 
can scarcely make itself heard, and when that terrible gulf is passed 
you might still look down upon the tallest steeple in America ; for 
the railway track at the brink of the chasm of Toltec Gorge is over 
eleven hundred feet above Los Pinos Creek. But in a flash, in the 




WEST END OF THE TOLTEC TUNNEL. 



twinkling of an eye, the scene is changed. One parting glance at 
the far-stretching valley and its mountain barriers, one shuddering, 
giddy look far dcnvn the precipice among the jagged rcjcks, and then 
all is hid from view in the darkness of the tunnel." 

The train emerges from tlie tunnel on the west side of the moun- 
tain, on the very brink of a frightful precipice, fifteen hundred feet 
deep, while the cliffs o])posite rise over two thousand one hundred 
feet. 

The writer just quoted says: "At the most critical point, where 
the downward view takes in the deepest depths of the gorge, lined 
with crags and splintered rocks, and bowlders, as large as churches, 
fallen from the cliffs above, amid which the stream dashes downward 



3o8 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



in snow-white cataracts, the train runs upon a solid bridge of trestle- 
work, set in the rock, as if it were a balcony from which to obtain 
the finest possible view of this most wonderful scene." 

The cut shows the trestle-work quite plainly, and gives a good 
idea of the descent on the west side of the mountain. It will be 
noticed that the "Toltec Gorge" is entered at the top, while the 
" Grand Canon of the Arkansas " is entered at the bottom. In the 
latter, the grandeur is all above the traveller ; in the former, it is all 
below him. 

Just west of Toltec Gorge, near the track, is a monument, erected 
to the memory of the martyred President Garfield, bearing the fol- 
lowing inscription : — 

|n ^cmoriam. 

JAMES .\BRAM GARFIELD, 

President of Hie United States. Died September ig, iS8l. 

MOURNED BY ALL THE PEOPLE. 

Erected by Members of the National Association of General Passenger and Ticket Agents, 
who held Memorial Burial Services on this spot, 

SEPTEMHEK 26, 1881. 




September 26 was the day on which President Garfield was buried 
at Cleveland, Ohio ; and this excursion party stopped here for servi- 
ces, and there conceived the idea of 
erecting a monument upon the spot. 
Between Toltec Gorge and Du- 
rango the scenery is remarkably 
Jixcrsiticd. The beautiful and sub- 
lime mingle as colors in a fine paint- 
ing. Where the railway rounds 
White Rock Point," the view is 
■ arcely less impressive than that 
1 the entrance of Toltec Gorge. 

In this locality we had the first 
limpse of " Dogtown," a citv of 
>rairic-dogs. Who has not heard 
■ i|' tliem ! .Ahd )'et, in Kansas, 
Nebraska, and New Mexico, we 
aught a glimpse of only here and 
there one of these historic creat- 
ures. But in southwestern Colo- 



•fr:J^ 


L 




4=,%# 1 


P?" -^^rV 


^^^t^i 






On Line of D. & R. G. Ra 


Hway, 


GARFIELD MONUMENT. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



309 



rado we came upon the famous town, — a locality that swarmed with 
these lively and somewhat eccentric inhabitants. 

The full-grown prairie-dog is about the size of a gray squirrel, 
though a multitude of smaller ones inhabit the town, which resembles 
a potato-field — the hills minus the potato-tops. He is a timid, wild 
little creature, and scampers to his home on the approach of humans, 
with a shrill, sharp bark, resembling that of a small dog. Dogtown 
is interesting because it is novel. It speaks well for this race of 
diminutive dogs that they dwell together in cities like men. Nor is 




it at all discreditable to them that they run for dear life on the approach 
of a locomotive ; so that, as another well says, " the town appears 
alive with projecting noses and disappearing tails." Here and there 
some, more experienced and bolder than the rest, — perhaps the offi- 
cials of the city, — sit upon their holes, elevated like potato-hills, and 
bark defiantly. Dogtown is certainly one of the marvels of the West. 
a' beaver town is, in some respects, more interesting than a prairie- 
dog town. Beavers colonize and establish homes vi^ith singular inge- 
nuity and perseverance. Forty years ago, when trapping in the 
Rocky Mountains was in its prime, the beaver population was im- 
mense. They were able to dam large rivers, and even to turn the 



3IO 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



course of rivers. Groves of trees they gnaw down and cut up into 
logs of suitable length for building dams. " They work like beavers " 
is a phrase suggested by the industry and persistent labors of this 
little animal. Trappers and tourists frequently discover their dams 
now, long since built and deserted. William A. Baillie-Grohman, 
the English author, who has traversed the Rockies from base to top, 
describes a scene in the Wind River Mountains. " The pools had 




iEAVERTOWN. 



evidently once been one single lake ; but the beaver, by ingenious 
dikes, had divided it into six or seven smaller sheets of water, lying 
tier-like, one slightly raised over the other. The nearest to the 
spring, the water was of course the highest, about eight or ten feet 
being the difference between its water level and that of the lowest ; 
miniature cascades and channel-like timber floats, connecting the dif- 
ferent lakelets. These channels for timber are very ingeniously laid- 
out contrivances, from three to five feet in width, and from two to 
four feet in depth ; they are intended for floating larger pieces of 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



311 



wood from place to place, especially where the previously constructed 
dikes render the transportation of trunks a difficult or impossible job 
for the little workers." 

" Beavers have left far more lasting and useful monuments of their 
laborious activity on the surface of the country than the aboriginal 
inhabitants. Whole valleys are fertilized by them, the process being 
much quicker than one might suppose. Tersely rendered it is as 
follows : Given a stream traversing a small valley with rocky ground 




CANON OF THE RIO LAS ANIMAS. 



on which grow only occasional cottonwoods ; a colony of beaver on 
taking possession of it will soon make it into meadow land. The 
grove of trees farthest down the stream is first tackled. When 
autumn comes, few of them are left to rear their heads. They have 
been gnawed down, their trunks cut into logs, which form the foun- 
dation of an amazingly strong and massive dam stretched across the 
stream where it is narrowest, forming on the upper side a profound 



312 MARVELS OF THE XEW WEST. 

pool as deep as the dam is high. If the su})ply of wood lasts, con- 
secutive dams will be built up stream, from thirty to a hundred yards 
apart, so that finally, in the course of twenty or thirty years, there 
will be no running water left. I have passed many such streams, 
when for miles you will pass beaver dam upon beaver dam." He 
speaks of beaver dams "forty and fifty yards in length, seven feet 
high, and four feet in breadth at the base, — massive structures won- 
derfully planned and built." 

Animas Caiion is picturesque and remarkably diversified with cliffs, 
forest, and cascades. The cut gives a view of the canon where the 
railway enters it, with a beautiful waterfall opposite. The railway 
enters the caiion midway between the valley and summit of the 
mountain, thereby differing from the Arkansas and Toltec canons, 
the railway entering the former at the bottom, and the latter at the 
top. Some of the most difficult railway engineering is seen in this 
canon, which is entered sixteen miles from Durango, and extends 
nearly thirty miles. The track is hewn out of the rocky sides of the 
mountain, winding around jagged cliffs, hundreds of feet above the 
valley below, and hundreds from the summit above. Here the gran- 
deur is both above and beneath the traveller. 

As the train was crawling very cautiously along this narrow slielf 
in the mountain, where the descent was so precipitous that passen- 
gers had to lean forward from the windows to see the edge of the 
track beneath the cars, every one maintaining a serious silence which 
seemed to result from a just appreciation of " the risky business," we 
said to a member of the British Parliament, who was a passenger, 
"Any remarks to off er .^ " Without relaxing the serious features of 
his face in the least, he replied, "None whatever." This gentleman 
informed me afterwards, that he had seen the greatest railroad engi- 
neering in Europe, and travelled by rail through the wildest and 
grandest mountain gorges, but nowhere had beheld more of the mar- 
vellous in art and nature than he saw in Animas Canon. Vox st)me 
distance this railway cost one hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars 
a mile. 

The grandest view of the mountains in Animas Canon is where 
the " Needles " shoot upwards towards the sky, as strikingly appears 
in the cut. It is not unlike similar scenes in the Rocky Mountains, 
except that the figure is clear-cut and peculiar. 

Black Hawk and Central — two mining towns in Clear Creek 
Caiion- — ^ are only one mile a])art ; indeed, the two towns merge into 
each other. The climb of a single mile to Central is accomplished 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



31 



by a " switch-back," making four miles of track necessary. A ride 
over it is so novel that it becomes sensational. " At one place, streets 




are crossed above the level of the house-tops, and at another, after 
circling- the mountain sides for two miles, the train makes its appear- 



314 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



ancc hugging the mountain side hundreds of feet above, and almost 
directly over the town. One can almost look down into the fiery- 
chimneys of the great smelters, while streets rise above, and seem- 
ingly bottomless shafts and excavations yawn beneath in this thrill- 




ing ride among the gold mines." A good idea of the zigzags, curves, 
and remarkable ascent of the railway between the two towns in ques- 
tion may be derived from the illustration. 

The editor of The New West wrote a very graphic description 
of the Loop above Georgetown, which we copy : — 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



315 



" Formerly those who had journeyed this far were content, and 
never dreamed that anything; could excel what they had seen. If the 
unaided imagination were to conjure up something more noteworthy, 
it would likely be disbelieved by the sober judgment. But in reality 
Georgetown is passed before an inkling of the real glories of the trip 
is discovered. This part must be seen. The mind may understand 
readily, a train winding through a chasm. It is less easy to under- 
stand how it begins to rise, rise, rise along the side till finally you 
look down upon a town in miniature. This is the way the train 
proceeds. Through the suburbs of Georgetown, it worms its way up 
a steep grade, curved 
and blasted through the 
rock. It crosses the 
road leading to Green 
Lake, which every tour- 
ist must traverse before 
leaving Colorado, and 
skirts the side of moun- 
tains which lose their 
crests in snow. In the 
valley flows the little 
stream of Clear Creek. 
Past Devil's Gate and 
Bridal Veil Falls, curves 
and climbs the engine. 
Looking directly above 
you, you perceive a rail- 
road track on a high 
iron bridge crossing the 
one you are following 
almost at right angles, but in the form of a crescent. You wonder 
what road that is above, and how it got there. For a little way the 
track is comparatively straight, then it veers to the right, crosses the 
creek and starts down the valley, but still up grade. For perhaps a 
quarter of a mile this continues. Then the creek is crossed again on 
a high iron bridge. Looking directly down you perceive a track be- 
low you. You wonder what track it is, and how it got there. Look 
again. It is your own track. You are on the bridge up to which you 
were looking a moment ago. You have ridden over an immense loop, 
one of four in existence. There is one on the Southern Pacific, one in 
Switzerland, and one in the Andes of South America. But this one 




3i6 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



is more complex than any of the others, the strangest feat the most 
skilful engineer ever accomplished. 

"The wonderful bridge is three hundred feet long and eighty- 
six feet high. From it Georgetown may be seen one way, nestled in 
its mountains, and the other way there is a confusion of tracks. It 
is a remarkable climb from the bridge over a fill seventy-six feet 
high on too sharp a curve to admit of a bridge. There comes near 




CROSSING THE RATON ^'10UNTAI^IS. 



being a duplication of the loop. From here Georgetown is still in 
sight beyond the three parallel tracks necessitated by the loop. 
Looking down from the final curve shown in the cut, it is easy to 
perceive that the dis])lay is a puzzle. There is a wealth of track, but 
it dodges hither and thither, no portion sccmin-ly having any si^ccial 
relation to its neighbor. Occasionally the entire trackage conies in 
range at once. Then Silver I'lume is reached, and the return trip 
begins. 

"The distance from Georgetown to .Silver IMume, in an air-line, 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 31/ 

is a little over a mile ; by wagon road, two miles ; by rail, four and a 
half miles. It is easily perceived that the extra distance is the only 
method of conquering the grade. Iron is not laid for pastime in the 
Rocky Mountains. The cost of this bit of eccentricity in railroading 
was two hundred thousand dollars. The cost of building clear to 
Bakerville, eight and a half miles, from Georgetown was four hun- 
dred and sixty-five thousand dollars. What the ultimate destiny of 
the road may be is a question. If extended to Leadville, it would 
shorten the distance between that place and Denver to one hundred 
and twelve miles. By the South Park, now far the shortest line, it is 
one hundred and fifty. But whatever it may be, and may do, it has 
certainly given to the tourist opportunity never before offered to 
inspect the wonders of nature and mechanical science." 

We described the "switch-back," by which the cars are able to 
ascend from Black Hawk to Central. On a grander scale, the same 
device carried the train, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Rail- 
road, over the Raton Mountains — a spur of the Rocky Mountains 
— into New Mexico. 

It is fifteen miles from Trinidad to the summit of the pass, and 
an average rise of one hundred and twenty-one feet to the mile is 
required. If this rise were equally distributed, it would not be exces- 
sive ; but it is not. In some places the railway must ascend nearly 
two hundred feet to the mile ; and, on the home-stretch, the rise is 
over three hundred feet to the mile, and at first was accomplished 
by a switch-back. " By it the cars left what is now the direct line, 
and were carried over a steep incline track, running diagonally up the 
hill ; thence, reversing their direction, they shot up another incline ; 
then reversing again, they climbed to the summit, thus zigzagging 
up the steep they could not directly scale. Even by this indirect 
route, the enormous grade of 316.8 feet per mile was attained." On 
the New Mexico side, the railway descended, in like manner, to a 
point where a tunnel, two thousand and eleven feet long, has been 
excavated, thus superseding the use of the switch-back, and shorten- 
ing the line by several miles. The cut opposite furnishes a correct 
view of the railroad over the mountain. 

There is another very remarkable loop in the Tehachapi Pass, 
California. The next illustration shows the course of the railway to 
the summit of the pass, together with the loop. Within twenty- 
five miles, the train rises nearly three thousand feet, — the altitude 
at the pass being three thousand nine hundred and sixty-four feet, — 
passing through seventeen tunnels, the aggregate length of which 



3i8 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



is 7,683.9 feet. The tourist is well paid by this wonder for his long- 
est trip. 

The loop is three thousand seven hundred and ninety-five feet 
in length, the upper track being seventy-eight feet higher than the 
lower track. The engineering skill displayed in the construction of 
this road will amply reward the tourist for his journey across the 
continent to see it. The scenery along the route is indescribably 
grand. Sometimes the train poises upon a dizzy height, from which 
the traveller looks down into frightful chasms that make him 




THE LOOP, TE 



shudder. The loop is three hundred and forty miles from San 
Francisco. 

After passing through the ninth tunnel, the track makes a grace- 
ful curve around the loop, and crosses it, at a distance above, as 
represented by the following cut. Let the reader take in, if possible, 
the engineering feat which the illustration correctly represents. 
There is the ninth tunnel, and the railroad train crossing both tun- 
nel and loop far above it. Surely, here is a marvel of American 
enterprise ! 

In descending the Sierra Nevada Mountains, from Summit to 
Colfa.x, the Union Pacific train winds around many precipitous cliffs, 
affording the traveller a favorable opportunity to look down into many 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



319 



frightful chasms. The most remarkable of these cliffs is represented 
by the cut (p. 320) called " Cape Horn." There is the train rounding 
it, at a height well calculated to excite alarm, — the last place a rail- 
way train would have been placed, even in the dreams of an enthu- 
siast, twenty years ago. Some travellers claim that the grandest and 
most exciting railway ride in the whole world is this from Summit to 
Colfax. No language can describe the scenery. Timid souls shrink 
and tremble, possibly, whirling around perilous curves, and rushing 
forward on the edge of awful precipices. But the experience pays. 




OVER TUNNEL AND LOOP. 



The memory of the ride will be reckoned as an income during the 
remainder of life. 

Marvellous railway engineering, on the Sierra Nevada range, is 
seen in the American River Caiion, as represented by the cut on p. 309. 

The grade of this road for seven miles is six hundred feet to the 
mile — too steep, of course, to be operated by steam ; so it was built 
to be operated by mules. Some of its curves are thirty degrees. 
The whole of its work is the triumph of enterprise over stupendous 
obstacles. 



320 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



The Calumet Branch Railway of the Lcadville division of the Rio 
Grande is a marvellous affair, and the reader will be interested in 




ROUNDING CAPE HORN. 



the following description of it, by one who is perfectly familiar with 
minutest details. He says : — 

" Nobody has ever well described the wonderful little feeder of the 
Leadville division which modestly leaves the main line in Brown's 
Canon, and ascends the mountain i;ulches to the east with the steep- 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



321 



est grades and the heaviest curvx-s in the world that are overcome 
with the ordinary drive-wheel locomotive. Afar up in this range of 
mountains, seven miles away, and nearly three thousand feet higher 
than the bed of the caiion, is the famous Calumet mine, from which 
is extracted the hematite iron ore that keeps in blast the furnaces of 
the Bessemer works at Pueblo. Every morning of the year a pon- 
derous locomotive and a small train of cars toils up this steep, and 
every afternoon they make the perilous descent to the valley, loaded 




AMERICAN RIVER CANON. 



with iron, with the steam brakes on the cars, the water pressure on 
the locomotive drivers, and a man standing at the brake-wheel of 
each car. 

" This is the most wonderful piece of railroading in the universe. 
The maximum grade is four hundred and six feet to a mile, or nearly 
eight per cent, and the maximum curvature, twenty-five degrees. 
The terminal of the branch is half a mile higher than the commence- 
ment. Imagine, then, the difficulty in ascending with empty cars, 
and the danger of descending with loaded ones. Still, strange though 



32? MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

it may seem, a locomotive cannot make the descent unless at least 
five cars are attached. The latter are essential to provide the resist- 
ing power for the steam brakes. The trip up is snalish ; the return 
is rapid in spite of the steam pressure which cuts the car-wheels into 
sparks that fly out in a constant stream from the brakes, in spite of 
the reverse action, in spite of the lavish use of the sand-pipes, and in 
spite of the water brake on the locomotive drive-wheels. 

" Some few years ago, when the operation of the line was commenced,, 
runaway accidents were of almost daily occurrence. The seven miles 
were within a brief period strewn with the wrecks of cars and loco- 
motives and iron ore. The most discouraging results attended the 
persistent efforts to make the line serve the purpose for which it wa.^ 
constructed. Day after day control over the descending train would 
be lost ; some defect would interfere with the working of the steam 
brake ; and even with the brake in successful operation, the train 
would take a crazy notion and go flying down the mountain sides, 
along the brinks of fearful precipices, through the rock-bound gullies, 
and around the acute curves like a bolt of lightning. The train hands 
would leap for life, and the locomotive and cars would be dashed into 
fragments. In all these accidents, however, nobody was hurt. Thou- 
sands and thousands of dollars' worth of rolling stock is said to have 
been destroyed before a successful system of operation was estab- 
lished. Only very few of the higher officials of the Rio Grande real- 
ize how terrible was the experience of these rides, and it is told of 
two of them who once summed up sufficient curiosity and courage 
to make the journey that they were so frightened that thcv hung on 
to the steps of the caboose, expecting e\'ery moment to have to leap 
for life. 

" Finally, extremely heavy locomotives were built, and a force of 
exceptionally brave trainmen were secured. The latter were in- 
structed to cling to their post at every hazard, and to never flinch in 
the moment of danger. Not a serious accident has been recorded 
since. Starting from the mine, c\ery brake is manned, so that in 
case the steam should fail, the train could be checked. While tlierc 
have been several runaways, in two years there has not been a wreck. 
The sight of one of these trains descending is one of thrilling interest, 
the sparks from the car-wheels cutting a pathway of light down 
the mountains, which can best be described as having the appearance 
of a molten stream of fire rolling down to the river-bed of the 
canon. 

" in Switzerland there are grades as steep as these of the Calumet 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



123 



Branch, but they are equipped for operation with the cable and cog- 
wheels." 

The leading railway companies in the New West support hospitals 
for their employees. The cut below represents the Central Pacific 
Railroad Hospital at Sacramento. It is a fine stone building, occu- 
pying an open square, and was erected at an expense of sixty thou- 
sand dollars. Here the sick or injured employee finds a pleasant 
home, with the best of care, until he is restored, and is able to return 
to work. The physician who has this hospital in charge stands at 
the head of his profession in Sacramento, and he is provided with the 







sy^L 1 ki ^^ 




CENTRAL PACIFIC RAILROAD HOSPITAL. 



best of nurses, and other facilities to make a first-class hospital. A 
monthly assessment of fifty cents each, from officers and men, begin- 
ning with the president of the company, pays the current expenses 
of the institution. This wise provision for the sick and suffering is 
very popular with the men and their families. To them it is a pledge 
of help in the time of need. 

It is common, also, for the railroad companies of the New West 
to provide reading-rooms for their employees. We have been fur- 
nished with the following account of what the Atchison, Topeka & 
Sante Fe Railroad has done in this line : — 

"The Atchison, Topeka & Sante Fe Railroad Company has es- 



324 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

tablished a rather extensive system of reading-rooms for the benefit 
of their employees throughout Kansas and New Mexico. The rooms 
are comfortably furnished, heated, lighted, and kept neat and clean 
by the company. The company provides all the better periodicals 
of the day, games, and mechanical reference books. It, however, 
depends upon voluntary contributions of the citizens where these 
rooms are located to supply a library. There are fifteen of them 
located at the various division points. At Argentine, New Mexico, 
quite a number of handsome volumes have been generously donated 
by private citizens. At Emporia, Kan., the citizens have come for- 
ward promptly, and a New York gentleman has donated one hundred 
volumes to that reading-room. Topeka also has one. At Nickerson, 
Kan., the people have responded very generously, as also at Dodge 
City and Raton, Kan., while at Las Vegas a very fine collection of 
books has been presented by the citizens. At San Marcial a collec- 
tion of about two hundred volumes of the best standard literature 
has been presented by the Hon. E. W. Kinsley, of Boston." 

Railroading in the New West makes mammoth bridges a neces- 
sity. The bridge over the Missouri River, at Omaha, is a great 
work, both in conception and execution. It is one mile in length 
including its approaches. It is "Post's Pattern." "The hollow iron 
columns arc twenty-two in number, two forming a ]Mcr. These 
columns are made of cast iron, one and three-fourths of an inch in 
thickness, eight and a half feet in diameter, ten feet long, and weigh 
eight tons each. They are bolted together air-tight, and sunk to the 
bed-rock of the river, in one case, eighty-two feet below low water. 
After these columns are seated on the rock foundation, they are filled 
up twenty feet with stone concrete, and from the concrete to the 
bridge seat they are filled with regular masonry. P'rom high-water 
mark to the bridge scat these columns measure fifty feet. The eleven 
spans are two hunch-ctl and fifty feet in length, making the iron part 
between abutments, two thousand seven hundred and fifty feet. 
These columns were cast in Chicago, and delivered in the shape of 
enormous rings, ten feet in length. When they were being placed 
in position, the workmen would take two or more rings, join them 
together, place the column where it was to l)c sunk, cover the top 
with an air-lock, then force the water from the column by pneumatic 
pressure, ranging from ten to thirty-five pounds per square inch. 
The workmen descend the columns by means of rope ladders, and 
fill sand-buckets, which arc hoisted through the air-lock by a ])ony- 
cngine. The sand is then excavated about two feet below the bottom 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



325 



of the column, the men come out through the air-lock, a leverage, 
from one hundred to three hundred tons, is applied, the pneumatic 
pressure is removed, and the column sinks, from three inches to two 




and one-half feet — in one instance, the column steadily sank down 
seventeen feet. Whenever the column sinks, the sand fills in from 
ten to thirty feet — in one instance, forty feet. This has to be exca- 
vated before another sinking of a few inches can take place, making 
altogether a slow and tedious process." 



326 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

Congress authorized the builcHng of this bridge, July 25, 1866, 
but Httle was done upon it until March, 1868. Then work com- 
menced in earnest, but was discontinued for some reason, after six- 
teen months. Again, in April, 1870, the American Bridge Company 
of Chicago took up the work ; but it was not carried to final consum- 
mation until Congress authorized the Union Pacific Railroad, Feb. 
24, 1871, to complete it, and issue bonds to the amount of $2,500,000. 

The Marent Gulch is in the Cariacan Defile, on the Northern 
Pacific Railway, not far from the Flathead Reservation. The stream 
flowing through it is small, but the gulch is deep and dismal. The 
bridge over it, represented by the cut on page 313, is one of the high- 
est in the United States. It is two hundred and twenty-six feet 
high and eight hundred and sixty long. It is a Howe truss resting 
on eight towers. 

Near by this structure is another large bridge — the O'Keefe 
bridge — one hundred and twelve feet high and one thousand feet 
long. 

The Northern Pacific Railway passes through Clark's P"ork, where 
not even a wagon-road existed before, nothing but a perilous bridle- 
path travelled by Indians, gold-seekers, and fur-traders. Pack-animals 
could not travel over twelve or fifteen hiiles a day on this trail. 

Clark's Fork is spanned by three mammoth bridges. The first is 
a five-span Howe truss, eight hundred feet long, with trestle approach 
of six hundred feet — fourteen hundred feet in all. P'ifty miles fur- 
ther up is another Howe truss bridge, of three spans, four hundred 
and eighty feet long, and ninety feet above the water. The tliird 
bridge is situated seven miles above the junction of the Plathead and 
Missoula, and is ten hundred and fifty feet long, including approaches. 

Smalley, in his "History of the Northern Pacific Railroad," says: 
" In the rock-work Mr. Hallett employed a method new in railroad 
construction, which he had first successfully used on the Columbia 
River line. The old way of cutting a roadbed along the face of a cliff 
was to begin at the top, drill small holes and blow off the rock, little 
by little, down to grade. Mr. Hallett began at the bottom, a little 
below grade, made a number of T-shaped tunnels, tilled them with 
great quantities of powder, and touched them all off at the same 
moment by electricity. The effect was stupeiulous, the whole side 
of the mountain wall being lifted up and hurled into the river. Great 
saving in time and money was thus effected. A similar method was 
applied to through cuts by means of pei|)en(liciilai" shafts and lateral 
galleries. One cut twenty-four feet deep by four hundred feet long 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 327 

was excavated by a single blast of giant powder, most of the rock 
being thrown entirely out, and the rest so broken up that it was 
readily removed by derricks." 

The same authority tells us that the most stupendous land-slide 
known in railroad-building occurred in this vicinity in April, 1883. 
" Forty acres, covered with trees, slid off into the river, carrying the 
track with it, and partially obstructing" the river." 

The magnitude of business and enterprise in the New West also 
creates the necessity for the largest ferry-boat in the whole world. 
It is found on the Straits of Carquincy, in California, and is run 
by the railway company to shorten the distance to Sacramento. 
The Straits are one mile and a half wide. 

Crofutt describes this monster ferry-boat as follows : " The ' Solano ' 
is the same length as the 'City of Tokio,' and has the greatest length 
of beam of any vessel afloat. Her dimensions are : length over all, 
424 feet ; length of bottom, — she has no keel, — 406 feet ; height of 
sides in centre, 18 feet 5 inches; height of sides at each end from 
bottom of boat, 15 feet 10 inches; moulded beam, 64 feet ; extreme 
width over guards, 116 feet; width of guards at centre of boat, 25 
feet 6 inches ; reverse shear of deck, 2 feet 6 inches. She has two verti- 
cal steam engines of 60-inch bore and ii-inch stroke. The engines 
have a nominal horse-power each, but are capable of being worked up to 
2,000 horse-power each. The wheels are 30 feet in diameter, and the 
face of the baskets, 17 feet. There are 24 baskets in each wheel, 30 
inches deep. She has eight steel boilers, each being of the following 
dimensions : length over all, 28 feet ; diameter of shell, 7 feet ; 143 
tubes, 16 feet long by 4 inches diameter each ; heating surface, 1,227 
feet ; grate surface, 224 feet ; entire heating surface, 9,816 feet ; entire 
grate surface, 1,792 feet. The boilers are made in pairs, with one 
steam smoke-stack to each pair, 5 feet and 6 inches in diameter. 
She has 4 iron fresh-water tanks, each 20 feet long and 6 feet in 
diameter; registers 483,541.31 tons. She is a double ender, and at 
each end has four balance rudders, each 1 1 feet 6 inches long and 5 feet 
6 inches in depth. They are constructed with coupling-rods, and each 
has one king-pin in the centre for the purpose of holding it in place. 
The rudders are worked by an hydraulic steering-gear, operated by an 
independent steam pump, and responds almost instantaneously to 
the touch. The engines are placed fore and aft, and operate entirely 
independent, each operating one wheel. This arrangement of the 
engines and paddles makes the boat more easily handled entering 
or leaving the slips, or turning quickly when required, as one wheel 



328 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




can be made to go ahead and the other to reverse at the same time. 
One wheel is placed eight feet forward, and the other eight feet abaft 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



329 



the centre of the boat. It has four tracks running from end to end, 
with the capacity of 48 freight, or 24 passenger cars. In its construc- 
tion, 1,500,000 feet of hmiber were used. Many of the timbers are 
over 100 feet long; four, the keelsons, are 117 feet long, each 
measuring 4,032 feet." 



PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 

We turn to other illustrations of the marvellous enterprise of the 
New West. Public buildings show the public spirit of the people. 
Their thrifty business and large prosperity appear through these. 
They proclaim the purpose, intelligence, and aim of those who build 
and pay for them. 

When the ground was broken for the railway at Omaha, the town 
contained about three thousand inhabitants. The first " claim cabin " 
was built there in 1854. A young man said to the author, in August, 
1883, in Omaha, " I am twenty-five years of age this month, and I was 
one of the first babies born in this town, the population of which is 
now sixtv thousand^ 

In 1884, the city expended two Diillioii dollars in public improve- 
ments, and four million in public buildings. The aggregate sales, in 
the same time, amounted to tivcnty-four million three hundred eighty- 
two thousand eight hundred ninety-oue dollars, — an increase of one 
hundred and eighteen per cent in five years. The city has forty 
churches, fourteen of which were erected in 1884, at a cost of one 
hunelred fifty-eight thousand dollars. The same year, also, ten school- 
buildings were erected, at an expense of one hundred tzvo thousand 
eight hundred eighty dollars. There are seven daily papers in 
the city ; two of them published in the German language. Its ap- 
propriations for public schools are generous and noble. It has over 
seven hundred thousand dollars invested in school property. In 
addition to public, there are several private schools, an institution for 
the deaf and dumb, a commercial college, Creighton College, etc. 

The first building which the traveller sees on approaching Omaha 
is the high school, a costly and imposing structure. It is situated 
on Capitol Hill, the highest point of land in the city, where the old 
state-house stood. It is one hundred and seventy-six feet long and 
eighty feet wide. The main spire rises one hundred and eighty-five 
feet from the ground. It was completed in 1876, and cost two hun- 
dred and fifty thousand dollars. It was but ten years after breaking 



MARVELS OF THE AElf UESF. 




HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING, OMAHA. 



^r(nincl for the Union I'acific Railroad tliat tliis structure was reared. 
The State Cai)it()l was first located here, but was removed to Lincoln, 
in 1868. 

Such a noble structure for the education of the young tells its 
own story. The community which demands such a building, at a 



M.IRVELS OF ENTERrRlSE. 



331 



time when enormous taxes are levied upon its property, must set a 
high vakie upon education. This edifice is a standing monument to 
the praise and honor of the people, as well as proof of their enter- 
prise and generosity. 

The court-house covers an area of 112x130 feet, exclusive of 
approaches and the grand staircase, on the Farnura Street front. 




COURT-HOUSE. 

The height of the building, from base to the statue over the dome, is 
one hundred and forty feet. It is built of stone from the Berea sand- 
stone quarries of Ohio, at a cost of $350,000. It is fire-proof. It is 
provided with all the appointments of a first-class court-house in 
the East. 

It is a wise policy which erects a permanent public building for the 
future as well as the present. Fifty years from now, and more, this 



33- mari'/:ls of the a^ew west. 

court-house will meet the wants of the public service, and, at the 
same time, continue to be an ornament to the city. Instead of 
grumbling at the large cost of the structure, posterity will honor the 
memory of the builders all the more ; for it furnishes proof of their 
earnest public spirit in the most enduring form. 

Portland is one of the most stirring and thriving cities on the con- 
tinent. Its population, including East Portland, is about forty thou- 
sand. It is situated on the west bank of the Willamette River, 
twelve miles from its junction with the Columbia. In beauty of 
location and architecture, it is unsurpassed by any luistern city. 
The editor of the U\-s/ S/iorc furnishes the following interesting 
and instructive facts concerning its business : — 

"In 1883 employment was given to 5,181 men, the product of 
whose labor aggregated $11,423,000 in value. Although in 1884 
many forms of industry — which had been estimated beyond their 
normal limit by the excessive demand during railroad construction — 
returned to their natural condition, the value of manufactures was 
nearly equal to that of 1883. The product was $11,282,000, and 
5,269 hands were cmpkned. The reason of this was the founding 
here of a number of new industries, considerably diversifying our 
products. The leading industries are as follows: furniture, 410 
hands ; lumber and wood-working, 620; foundry and iron work, 5 jo; 
printing and publishing, 375 ; ship and boat building, 255 ; ck)th- 
i"S» 350; brick-making, 120; carpentering, 300; boots and shoes, 
150; carriage and wagon making, 130. The product for 1885 was 
valued at $9,911,000, fully equal to 1884, when the shrinkage in 
values is considered. Salmon-canning is one of the leading indus- 
tries of Oregon. The scene of c)})cration is the Columbia and As- 
toria, the headquarters, where are located a majority of the facto- 
ries. This industry gives employment to 1,500 boats, 3,000 fisher- 
men, and 1,000 factory hands, and produces annually 600,000 cases 
of salmon, valued at $3,000,000. The industry is of great benefit to 
Portland in many ways." 

As a shipping port for flour and grain, the same writer says, the 
business "amounted in 1885 to 9,217,086 bushels of wheat, and 
344,811 barrels of flour, equal to a total of 11.432,265 bushels of 
wheat. . . . Not t)ne acre in twenty of Ivistcrn W'a.shingtoii is now 
under cultivation, and the crop increases at such a ratio from year to 
year that both the C. R. & N. Co. and Northern Pacific will be taxed to 
their utmost capacity to move it two years hence. The quantity of wheat 
produced will depend entirely upon the facilities for getting it to 



maki'j:ls of kntrrj'r/sJ':. 



IZZ 



market ; consequently the amount shipped from Portland will be regu- 
lated by the transportation accommodations furnished It is but 
reasonable to expect that within a few years fiftv million bushels of 
wheat will be shipped frrnn the Inland Empire, two-thirds of which 
at least, will fnul a market in this city. ... The value of wheat ex- 










s? ff 



:^^^> 'c. 






cLrrrr f r r-i, i «r< 




ported from this city in 1885 was 84,319-203; of flour, $1,453,3^4 
10 carry this, including salmon exports of §2,757,756, required i^i 
large vessels, having a total capacity of 120,963 tons. . . . Exports 
to toreign countries for season of 1884-5 were $5,857,057. The total 
domestic exports for the same period were $6,699,776, makin<^ a 
grand total of foreign and domestic exports of the products of "the 



334 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

region of $12,556,833. This includes ii,iJi,433 pounds of wool, 
2,106,971 pounds of hides, 5,333,207 pounds of hops, and 28,860,600 
pounds of potatoes. The total exports for the calendar year 1885 
were 1^14,280,670." 

Portland is distinguished for its fine public edifices and business 
blocks, on which money has not been spared to make them conven- 
ient as well as ornamental. But none of its public buildings surpass 
the new high school in beauty and costliness. It cost one hundred 
and fifty thousand dollars, and is finished with all the modern appoint- 
ments of a first-class institution. The six other school-houses of the 
city are large and elegant, and would be a credit to any city in the 
land. "The school census of 1885 showed 6,658 children between 
the ages of four and twenty residing in the city, of which 570 attended 
private schools. There were registered in the public schools 3,978, 
the average number belonging being 3,084, and the average daily 
attendance 2,971. Considering that many parents do not send their 
childen to school until six years of age, and that a great many are 
compelled to leave school and earn a livelihood long before they are 
twenty, the above figures indicate that there are few children of proper 
age not receiving the benefit of a free education." 

The city is well supplied with newspapers and magazines of a high 
order. The Orcgoiiiaji and Xcivs are morning dailies with weekly 
editions. The Standard, 7\Icgra»i, and /vvvV J^rcssc are evening 
dailies — six daily papers in all. There are from fifteen to twenty 
other periodical publications, among which is T/u- I Vest S/iotr, in- 
ferior to no illustrated monthly in the United States for the place 
it is designed to fill. We here and now acknowledge our great in- 
debtedness to its able editor for a great amount of information, as 
well as fine illustrations, in the preparation of this volume. 

Portland, Oregon, contains many fine business blocks, one of which 
is shown opposite. l^'orty-onc years ago the first business house 
of Portland was erected — a small log house. 

In November, 1843, A. L. Lovejoy and A. M. Overton located 
claims on the present site of Portland. In the fall of 1844 Over- 
ton sold his interest to F. M. Pettygrove for $50 ; and during the 
winter following a small log cabin was erected. These two men, 
Lovejoy and Pettygrove, had an idea that the future city of Ore- 
gon would be built upon the site which they had selected. So 
in July, 1845, they laid off sixteen blocks near the river, making 
the blocks two hundred feet square, and subdividing them into eight 
lots fifty by one hundred feet each. Now they must name their 



MARl-ELS OF ENTERPRISE 



335 




336 



MARVKLS OF THE NEIV WEST. 



new town ; and Lovejoy, who was from Massachusetts, suggested 
Boston. Pettygrovc was from Maine, and he suggested Portland. 
They drew lots to settle the question, and I\'ttygrove won. Hence 
the name Portland. Before the next winter fairly set in they built 
of hewn logs a modest little store. 

Sometime thereafter both Lovejoy and Pettygrove sold out, the 
latter receiving $5000 for his share for which he paid Overton $50. 
Contrasting this very humble beginning with the present appearance 
of the city, its growth and thrift are truly marvellous. The log store 



.^^.^ 




THE KAWIM BLOC 



represents the fact a little more than forty years ago; the cither views 
presented represent the facts now. Between the two, what enter- 
prise, industry, thought, labor, trials, and triumphs ! 

The State of Oregon contains about twelve times as many aci\s 
as Massachusetts, and, in many jiarticulars, its future prospects arc 
twelve times as great. In length, from east to west, it is three hun- 
dred and fifty miles, and in width, two hundred and eighty miles, 
embracing an area of 95,247 square miles, or, in round numbers, sixty- 
one million acres. The business and enter|irise of the inliabitants 
are as large as the State. Proof of this is found in their public 
buildings. 

The State Capitol at Salem is worthy of any of the oldest eastern 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



337 



commonwealths. It is a very substantial edifice, of ample propor- 
tions, and both beautiful and imposing. The edifice not only speaks 
for itself, but it speaks for the State, whose people take pride in 
their ability to represent the highest type of civilization. The editor 
of the New West says, " One of the deepest rooted and most erro- 
neous impressions the East entertains of the West is that the towns 
and cities are all new, illy constructed, poorly provided with the con- 
veniences for health, comfort, and the transaction of business, socially 
and morally below par, of a mushroom growth, and possessing those 
peculiar characteristics which have always been associated with the 




' frontier.' " One purpose we have in presenting these views of public 
buildings to the reader is to correct such incorrect and absurd ideas 
of the West. 

The insane asylum is located at Salem, the capital. It is an ample 
provision of the State for a very unfortunate class of its inhabitants. 
The building is large and graceful, supplied with everything neces- 
sary for the comfort and cure of the insane — a beautiful expression 
of the philanthropic and benevolent spirit of the people. 

Tacoma, Washington Territory, is the western terminus of the 
Northern Pacific Railroad and the head of navigation on Puget Sound, 
and therefore a place of much importance, especially since the construe- 



33S 



MARVELS OF THK AElf WEST. 



tion of the Northern Paeifie RaUroad. In Mareh, 1885, the editor of 
the ^\V:i' ll'ts/ said : " In the vicinity of Tacoma, and on several ishmds 
contiguous to the mainland, are large areas of splendid potter's clay. 
A large quantity of machine-made brick are turned out by nine differ- 
ent yards. Of these, fully five millions went into buildings in 
Tacoma last year, while large quantities were sent to other markets. 
. . . Tacoma is the county seat and the seaport to which all this 
region is tributary. Not simply that, but it is the terminus of the 
Northern Pacific, the point where that great transcontinental line 
reaches tlie deep water of the Pacific. Here can come the varied 




jjroducts of the Inland iMiipirc and tlie greater portion of Western 
Washington for shipment, and from here those same regions, soon to 
be wealthy and populous, can draw their supplies. Here, too, can 
come the commerce of Asia and the Pacific for transmission across 
the continent, while to the warehouse here the railroad can bring the 
innumerable articles sent from the l^ast to be distributed throughout 
the northwest region." 

The "Tacoma" is one of the largest and finest hotels in the 
West north of San T^-ancisco, a city of magnificent public houses. It 
was erected in 1884 by tlie Tacoma Land C()mpan\- at an e.\i)ense of 
$200,000, and has already won a reputation throughout the country. 
It stands on an eminence above the water front, affordinu" the <ruests 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



339 



on the veranda such a view of water, valley, and mountain as few 
ever enjoyed before. A visitor says of this hotel : "The Tacoma, as 
a homelike resort, is not an illy constructed idea of its projectors. 
It is from the designs of a celebrated firm in New York City, and 
built under its supervision. It is modeled from the domestic archi- 
tecture of France and Holland of the fifteenth and sixteenth cen- 
turies. The main lines of the buildini;" are similiar to the same lines 
in the best of T^rench work, and the gables are a reproduction of a 
type found very frequently in Holland. The window and door fram- 
ings and cornices are of selected hard-burned brick, and are attempts 
at decorating what would otherwise be tame and flat, owing to the 










THE TACOMA HOTEL. 



necessity of covering all brick walls with cement in this, a damp cli- 
mate, where the brick are very readily affected. The interior details 
were studied with a view of making the house attractive as a home, 
warm and rich in color, and with fine and delicate mouldings. 

"The guest here, as he sits in the shade enjoying a temperature 
which never rises higher than eighty degrees in the summer, is apt 
to remember his friends at the seashore in the luist, or at the interior 
mountain resorts, and pity them." 

Some of the finest business blocks north of San h^-ancisco are 
found here. The original wooden buildings are being rapidly re- 



340 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

moved, and substantial brick ones take their places. In the city 
there are " 336 distinct establishments or offices of professional men. 
These are classified alphabetically as follows : architects, 4 ; auction 
houses, 2 ; attorneys, 38 ; bakeries, 4 ; banks, 3 ; brick-yards, 3 ; boots 
and shoes, 4; blacksmiths, 5 ; barbers, 10 ; bath-rooms, 3 ; builders, 7 ; 
clothing and gents' furnishing, 3 ; car and machine shops, 2 ; cigar 
stores, 13; Chinese stores, 7; Chinese laundries, 21; doctors, 24; 
dairies, 4 ; dry goods, 7 ; dentists, 2 ; engineers and surveyors, 9 ; 
express offices, 2; flouring mill, i; furniture dealers, 4; fruit and 
provisions, 4 ; fish, 2 ; flour and feed, 4 ; foundry, i ; galvanized iron 
works, I ; general merchandise, 2; groceries, 16; harness makers, 2; 
hotels, 15; hardware, 3 ; insurance and real estate, 26; jewellers, 7; 
livery stables, 3 ; lock and gunsmiths, 2; millinery stores, 4; meat 
markets, 7 ; musical instruments, 3 ; marble works, i ; mining ex- 
perts, 2 ; photographers, 2 ; paints, oils, and wall paper, 2 ; plumbers 
and gas-fitters, 3 ; painters, 3 ; queen's-ware, wood, and willow ware, 3 ; 
restaurants, 8 ; saloons, 25 ; saw and shingle mills, 7 ; sash and door 
factories and ]:)laning mills, 5 ; salmon cannery, i ; stationery stores, 4 ; 
stoves and tinware, 3 ; skating rinks, 2 ; ship carpenters and boat- 
builders, 4; sewing machine agents, 3 ; ship chandlers, i ; tailors, 4; 
toy stores, i ; tub and pail factory, i ; telegraph offices, 3 ; under- 
takers, I ; wheelwrights, 2 ; wagon warerooms, i." 

The St. Luke Memorial Church is a very fine edifice, built of 
stone, at an expense of $30,000. It was a present to the Episcopal 
Society from C. B. Wright, Esq., of Philadelphia, formerly president 
of the Northern Pacific Railroad. His daughter, learning of the 
struggles of the society to secure a place of worship, resolved to lay 
aside money enough from her own funds to purchase a bell for them. 
Before her purpose was accomplished, she sickened and died. One 
of her last requests was, that her father should see that the bell was 
supplied. The father responded by this magnificent present. A large 
memorial window occupies nearly the entire width of the front of the 
building. This is in memory of the deceased daughter. A marble 
slab, suitably inscribed, is sunk in one of the walls to the right of the 
chancel, in memory of Mrs. Wright. 

Mr. Wright also endowed the "Annie Wright Seminary" by the 
gift of FIFTY riioL'.s.wi) i)( )Li..\KS, iu memory of his accomplished 
daughter. The building was paid for by subscriptions, and cost 
$35,000. It is a beautiful structure, supplied with all the appli- 
ances of the best academies in New l^ngland. The inhabitants of 
Tacoma are justly proud of this institution, it is so much in harmony 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 34 1 

with their intelHgent and cultivated taste. They greatly honor the 
man, too, whose noble bequests have contributed so much to improve 
and beautify their delightful town. 

The citizens of Tacoma have been exceedingly generous in provid- 
ing public schools. The Central School building is more costly and 
elegant than the school buildings in New England towns of the size 
of Tacoma. The grounds, building, and furniture cost $30,000, which 
speaks well for the enterprise and good sense of a people whom many 
Eastern dwellers suppose live on the verge of civilization. The rapid 
increase of the population enlarges the field of educational operations 
from year to year, imposing heavier and heavier burdens upon the 
taxpayers, who are not given to grumbling, however, since they fully 
believe that the best invested property in the city is that which they 
have put into churches and schools. 

The deep interest of the inhabitants of the most distant parts of 
the New West in public school, is manifest from such facts as the 
following from the Advance of Chicago, a few months since : — 

" On one of the thousand islands of Puget Sound, in the centre of 
eight counties wholly destitute of any higher educational advantages, 
and having a population of over 16,000, is a little community intensely 
in earnest in this matter. The people of this island have recently 
offered us a fine building, well adapted for academy purposes, and 
twenty acres of land, provided we as a denomination will raise an 
endowment of $10,000, with which to start the school. The money 
with w^hich to purchase the l)uilding is all subscribed, and bond for a 
deed has been given. The property is worth at least $5,000, and not 
one of the forty persons who subscribed for its purchase is a Congre- 
gationalist ; and yet they say to us as a denomination, ' Take the 
property and give our children the benefit of a good school, that they 
may not grow up in ignorance.' " 

Montana is a newer, if not a wilder country, than Oregon and 
Washington ; and its progress has been unparalleled. To-day it can 
boast the most promising mining camp in the world, — Butte Crrv, — 
called "The Silver City," because of its rich and extensive silver 
mines. It is claimed that Butte is in advance of Eeadville, in several 
particulars, and that the " hard times " which have struck almost 
every other western town, have never visited this booming place. 
Since the completion of the Utah and Northern Railroad, the town 
has advanced from a population of five hundred to fifteen thousand, 
including its environs. The citizens have been moved to true West- 
ern generosity, not to say prodigality, in providing everything which 



34^ 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 







MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



343 



the business, educational, and moral interests of the city require. 
Expensive water-works, the electric light, churches, schools, three 
daily newspapers, with several weekly, telegraph, telephone, and all 
the etceteras of a thriving Eastern city. Their large and numerous 
business blocks and public buildings are the best possible proof of 
the energy, tact, and enterprise, which have reared this and other 
cities, within a few years, on the frontier. The 
ness " is driven out of Montana. 




It has the appearance of a busy, bustling Eastern city, though 
having more dash. The assessment value of its property aggregates 
$8,000,000. It has eight churches, three banks, schoolhouses that 
cost $75,000, gas-works, and all the other appointments of modern civ- 
ilization, although it is so young and situated in the wilderness. The 
editor of the West Shore says : " Law and order are supreme, life 
and property are secure, and there, as elsewhere, he who behaves 
himself will not be molested, while he who does not will probably 
only be interfered with by the police. Socially, Butte contains as 
large a proportion of educated and refined people as any manufactur- 



344 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

ing city in the union, a statement to which its many fine churches 
and schools bear ample witness." 

The total bullion shipment from Butte, in 1885, amounted to 
^5,000,000, and of copper matte, $10,000,000, making a total of 
$ 15,000,000. 

The cost of the court-house was ^150,000, a necessary outlay to 
meet the demands of the thriving county. It is a fitting monument 
of the public spirit which pervades the communities on the Pacific 
coast. They do nothing by halves. Their business is conducted on 
a grand scale, nothing picayune about it. Here in Butte is the largest 
smelter in the whole world. It contains over thirty furnaces, which 
reduce one thousand tons of ore daily, producing one hundred and 
fifty tons of copper, assaying sixty per cent copper. The machinery 
is run by water power, though the furnaces consume over a hundred 
cords of wood daily. The company made one contract for wood 
amounting to $1,000,000 — three hundred thousand cords. This 
copper mine, known as the Anaconda, is the richest copper mine in 
America. 

As large a per cent of the population attend meeting on the Sab- 
bath as attend in a manufacturing village of New England. Their 
neat and attractive houses of worship show that the citizens place a 
high estimate upon Christian institutions. The leaders of thought 
and enterprise appear to understand that their employes need the 
Sabbath for physical rest and recuperation, as well as for moral im- 
provement. Hence, this generous provision for the moral and spirit- 
ual welfare of the masses. 

Their public schools are provided with modern improvements, 
and the teachers employed are among the best whom large pay can 
secure from the East. In thoroughness of instruction and discipline, 
the schools of Montana, at least in its leading cities, like Butte, 
Helena, Deer Lodge, etc., are not inferior to those of Mas.sachusetts. 
In no part of our country are the people more fully imbued with the 
idea that permanency of government depends upon the intelligence 
as well as morals of the governed, than are the inhabitants of the 
New West. Of course, there is a large class who give no attention 
to these matters, and doubtless undervalue them ; but we speak of 
the ruling classes, who make the West what it is, and is to he. 

A writer says : " Helena, by reason of her own valuable mines, 
and her favorable situation in regard to other mining camps, became 
the great mining and commercial centre ; by accumulation of wealth, 
in the hands of shrewd, capable, and energetic men who knew how to 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 345 

use money to conquer fortune, she acquired complete financial suprem- 
acy ; and finally, her political influence and commanding situation, 
gave her the seat of government of the Territory. All of these ad- 
vantages she still retains, and they will in a few years, when the 
railroad system of Montana is more fully developed, give her ten 
times the population and influence she has now, for then Helena 
will become the railroad centre of this vast region. These are the 
reasons why she is the political, financial, and commercial capital 
of Montana, and why she is proudly and lovingly called by all her citi- 
zens, 'The Queen of the Mountains.' " 

To the general reader, Idaho seems to belong to the outside world 
far more than Montana. Nevertheless, it is one of the fair, bright 
spots of the New West, which modern civilization is rapidly trans- 
forming into a country worthy gf its beautiful name. From a histor- 
ical statement prepared for the New Orleans Exposition by the 
Territorial Comptroller, we extract the following account of the ori- 
gin of its name, which will be read with interest : — 

" Idaho is generally supposed to be a corruption of an Indian word 
meaning ' Gem of the Mountains.' This, however, is disputed. The 
poet Joaquin Miller, writes as follows on the subject : — 

"'The distinction of naming Idaho certainly belongs to my old 
friend Colonel Craig (since deceased) of Craig's Mountain, Nez Perce 
County. As for some fellow naming it in Congress ~ bah ! The 
name was familiar in five thousand men's mouths as they wallowed 
through the snow in 1861, on the way to Oro Fino mines, long before 
Congress, or any man of Congress, had even heard of the new dis- 
covery. 

" ' The facts are these : I was riding pony express at the time 
rumors reached us, through the Nez Perce Indians, that gold was to 
be found on the head waters and tributaries of the Salmon River. I 
had lived with the Indians ; and Colonel Craig, who had spent most 
of his life with them, often talked with me about possible discoveries 
in the mountains to the right, as we rode to Oro Fino, and of what 
the Indians said of the then unknown region. Gallop your horse, as 
I have a hundred times, against the rising sun. As you climb the 
Sweetwater Mountains, far away to your right, you will see the name 
of Idaho written on the mountain-top, — at least, you will see a peculiar 
and beautiful light at sunrise, a sort of diadem on two grand clusters 
of mountains that bear away under the clouds fifty miles distant. I 
called Colonel Craig's attention to this peculiar and beautifully arched 
light. "That," said he, "is what the Indians call E-dah-hoe, which 



346 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

means the light, or diadem, on the Hne of the mountains." That was 
the first time I ever heard the name. Later, in September, 1861, 
when I rode into the newly discovered camp to establish an express 
office, I took with me an Indian from Lapwai. We followed an 
Indian trail, crossed Craig's Mountains, then Camas Prairie, and had 
all the time E-dah-hoe Mount for our objective point. 

" ' On my return to Lewiston I wrote a letter containing a brief 
account of our trip and of the mines, and it was published in one of 
the Oregon papers, which one I have now forgotten. In that account 
I often mentioned E-dah-hoe, but spelt it Idaho, leaving the pronun- 
ciation unmarked by any diacritical signs. So that, perhaps, I may 
have been the first to give it its present spelling, but I certainly did 
not originate the word.' 

"A writer in the Nciv West apparently well informed, declares that 
Idaho is not a Nez Perce word, adding: 'The mountains that Joaquin 
Miller speaks of may be named with a somewhat similar appellation, 
but most likely the whole story grows out of the fertile imagination of 
the poet. Idaho Springs, in Colorado, were known long before Idaho 
Territory was organized. The various Territories at their organiza- 
tion should have been given some appropriate local name. Colorado 
was named aftei" the river of that name, though it is not within its 
boundaries. It should have been called Idaho. It was the name 
first placed in the bill organizing it, but which was afterward changed.' 

"William H. Wallace, the delegate to Congress from Washington 
Territory, who introduced the bill making a new territory out of the 
eastern portion of Washington, pleased with the beauty of the name 
of Idaho, suggested it as an appropriate one. 

" Ex-Senator Nesmith of Oregon gives still another account : 
'The bill first passed the House of Representatives designating the 
present I'erritory of Idaho as "Montana," when it came up for con- 
sideration in the Senate on the 3d of March, 1863. Senator Wilson 
of Massachusetts moved to strike out the word "Montana" and insert 
" Idaho." Mr. Harding of Oregon said : " I think the name ' Idaho ' 
is preferable to 'Montana.'" Idaho in English signifies "the Gem 
of the Mountains." I lieard others suggest that it meant in the 
Indian tongue " Shining Mountains," all of which are .synonymous. 
I do not know from which of the Indian tongues the two words 
" Ida-ho " come. I think, however, if you will pursue the inquiry 
among those familiar with the Nez Perce, Shoshone, and h'lat Head 
tribes, that you will '(\x\iX the origin of the two words as I have given 
it above.' " 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



347 



Boise City was two hundred and fifty miles from the nearest rail- 
road station until three years ago, and could be reached only by a 
long and wearisome journey by stage or team for days and nights. 
To travellers it was a desolate region, through which they journeyed to 
reach the little thrifty city which pluck and enterprise had reared at 
the mouth of Boise River, from which its name was derived. 

The business part of the town is built of brick and stone, a city 
ordinance prohibiting the erection of wooden buildings. A business 
of more than ^200,000 monthly is done by the citizens. There are 
three excellent hotels, more than twenty stores of all kinds, and 




BOISE CITY. 



three newspapers, — two of them weekly, and the other tri-weekly. 
The streets are wide, and so shaded with trees as to appear beautiful 
beyond comparison. Hence the name by which the place is known, 
— "Wooded City." 

One of the writers already quoted says : " There is land enough in 
the neighborhood for all who choose to come. The history of the 
past twenty years of this valley shows what energy and determina- 
tion can accomplish in the face of almost insuperable obstacles. 
With these obstacles now removed, and with the valley easily accessi- 
ble by rail to the immigrant seeking a home and the capitalist an in- 
vestment for his money, the growth of the next few years must be far 
greater and more marked than at any period in the past. Boise valley 



348 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



^^^^^^m 



IlllliiiPiii'i 



|l|llll!liilillilllllllllil|ll|ll|l|l 




MAR r ELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



349 



proper is about sixty miles long and from two to six wide, containing 
two hundred thousand acres of good arable land. Wherever this 
has been brought under cultivation by means of irrigating ditches, 
the most wonderful results have been obtained." 

In the centre of the cut opposite the capitol is seen. This ele- 
gant structure was erected at a cost of eighty tliousaud dollars ! 
On the right is the court-house, which cost $70,000. On the left of 




M,m^r^%A 






CENTRAL SCHOOL BUILDING. 

the capitol is a public-school building, four stories high with mansard 
roof. It is a brick structure, eighty-two by one hundred feet, and 
cost $50,000. One who knows says: "The school system is the 
pride of the city. It is thoroughly graded, has a principal and six 
assistant teachers, and is in such high favor, and does its work so 
satisfactorily that no private schools are maintained, though there are 
more than seven hundred children of school age in the district. 



350 



MARVELS OF THE NEW IVEST. 





- B - ^>" 1- - 



Many tamiiies from a distance reside in the city for the purpose of 
giving their children those excellent educational advantages." 

Such a place in far-away Idaho, where a few years ago the adven- 
turer would go to be scalped, but ^ = ^ 
not to be educated ! A marvel, ^~ 
indeed, is such a change. 

There was but one house in 
Cheyenne, Wyoming, on the 
fourth day of July, 1867. In the 
spring of 1869 there were six thou- 
sand inhabitants. The construc- 
tion of the Union Pacific Railroad awaKcned latent powers of progress 
and set all of its machinery in motion. This population of six 
thousand embraced scores of irresponsible men, who moved forward 
with the road, leaving the more substantial element to build up 
an orderly and thriving town. Still, Cheyenne suffered for a time 
by the presence and depredations of "roughs," who frequented 
gambling hells and dance halls, until the best citizens, satisfied that 



of U P R-i Iroad 
FIRST CAPITOL OF KANSAS. 




LAST CAPITOL. 



Stringent measures only would relieve the town of this vicious class, 
rose in their might and appointed a vigilance committee, who suspen- 
ded several of the most desperate fellows by the neck from trees or 
other elevations. Their accomplices made a personal application of the 
hint, and dei^irted for " p;nts unknown," from wliich time Cheyenne 
has been one of the most quiet and flourishing young cities on the 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



351 



line of the Union Paciiic Railroad. We show, on page 349, one of 
its three fine schoolhouses. 

The growth and enterprise of Cheyenne were not dependent upon 
the discovery of gold mines, as was the case with Leadville and other 
mining towns ; but it was the outgrowth of that western public spirit, 
w^iich found occasion for development in the construction of the 
Union Pacific Railroad. There are many other towns of equal thrift 
which have sprung up in the same way, leading the best New England 
communities now in magnitude of business, the excellence of their 
schools, and the general progress of public affairs. But for our 
limited space we should make special mention of other towns. 

Public enterprise in Kansas is of a high order. The effect of it is 
seen in every department of social and public life. It pushes agricul- 
ture, manufactures, the mechanic arts, science, learning, and religion. 
The public buildings of no State in the Union are more expressive 

of enterprise than those of Kansas. 
We are able to furnish the reader 
with a correct illustration of the 
first and last capitol of the State 
(P- 350). 

The last capitol is not quite 
completed at this time of writing ; 
but the cut shows that the finished 
structure will be imposing and ele- 
gant. 

At Gunnison city, on the Pacific 
Slope, where there were but six or 
eight cabins in the spring of 1880, 
we found a population of three 
thousand in the autumn of 1883, with a system of graded schools, 
including high school and superintendent of public schools. The 
town had sixty thousand dollars invested in school property at that 
time. Three years seemed to be ample time for this thriving, driv- 
ing community to accomplish what would require ten years to do in 
New P^ngland. The following cut represents the best hotel of the 
city, built and furnished at a cost of two hundred and fifty thou- 
sand DOLLARS. 

One who knows sends us the following : — 

" At the confluence of the Gunnison and Tomichi rivers, on the 
western slope of the Rocky Mountains, there is a broad level valley, 
surrounded by mountains which present the most beautiful and pic- 




GUNNISON IN 1879. 



352 



MARll-lLS OF THE NEW WEST. 



turesque autumnal landscapes imaginable. ( )n the side of one of 
these mountains in bold relief is outlined the profile of a human 
head, and legend tells us that the Indians used to make annual visits 
to this valley to worship the Great Spirit. In 1879 t^""*-' habitations of 
this valley consisted of the little log-cabin shown in the illustration, 
and a few tents ; but about this time the reports of the fabulous min- 
eral wealth of the great Gunnison countrv began to be noised abroad, 
and soon the mountains were filled with a fickle horde of fortune- 
hunters, and mining towns with po]nilations of one to three thousand 
sprang up in a few months. This beautiful valley seemed the natural 




LA VETA HOTEL, GUNNISON. 



place for the 'Gate City' of this great Eldorado, and in March, 1880, 
Gunnison was incorporated with forty voters. By the middle of 1881 
her population had grown to over five thousand ; the Denver & Rio 
Grande Railway had gotten into the country and began to develoj) the 
vast coal fields near by. 

" The sujierior quality of this fuel, and the abundant resources of all 
other essentials, in such close proximity to Gunnison, soon attracted 
the attention of capitalists, and convinced them that there must, ere 
long, flourish one of the greatest manufacturing cities in the West. 
This faith led to large i)ermanent investments which have put Gun- 
nison bcvond the uncertainties of most Western towns. 



MARl'hLS OF ENTERPRISE. 353 

" Prominent among these investments may be noted that of a coyi- 
pany of wealthy St. Louis gentlemen, who, through their efficient man- 
ager, Mr. D. J. McCanne, expended, during the year 1882, nearly half 
a million dollars in the erection of fine water and gas works, and the 
palatial La Veta Hotel. To the nerve and enterprise of these men 
in making these magnificent improvements, much of Gunnison's future 
depends. These same gentlemen have since invested a quarter of a 
million in the erection and operation of large reduction works there, 
which are now in successful operation. 

" Gunnison has lost a large portion of her shiftless floating popu- 
lation, but retains most all her substantial citizens, who are so 
attached to her climate, her fine schools, and her refined cultured 
society, that they could not be long satisfied away from her. The 
wealth and permanency of her resources are now being rapidly devel- 
.oped, and within a few years she will become a prominent city of the 
western slope. To the caj^italist, the sportsman, the pleasure-seeker, 
or the invalid, Gunnison's attractions are rare." 

The same correspondent also writes : — 

"Among the many wonderful resources of the great Gunnison 
country, there are none that excite a -livelier interest, from a commer- 
cial standpoint, than the wonderful deposits of coal and iron ore 
which are found there. 

"About forty miles east of Gunnison are found several fine de- 
posits of hematite iron ore, one of which has been developed to a 
depth of fifty-three feet, showing solid iron of remarkable purity, car- 
rying 69 per cent metallic iron, 2.30 per cent silica, o. 116 per cent 
sulphur, and 0.008 phosphorus. 

"Within thirty miles of (junnison, in the same direction, is found 
a deposit of manganese ore, of which Regis Chauvenet & Brother, 
metallurgists and chemists, of St. Louis, Mo., say: 'We consider 
this an excellent ore for the manufacture of " spiegel " iron, since it 
yields iron 27.47, and manganese 17.90. This is a ratio which will 
yield a high "spiegel," probably 1.30 per cent of manganese; audit 
is well known that no artificial mixture will work as well as an ore 
with the proper ratio of the two metals. The low phosphorus, 0.059, 
is especially noteworth)-.' 

"The most wonderful deposit of iron ore in the West, is found 
about twenty-five miles southwest of Gunnison, on the proposed rail- 
road route from Gunnison to Lake City. After a careful survey of 
this territory, a prominent iron manufacturer of St. Louis expressed 
his belief that there is more iron there, within a radius of five miles, 



354 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

than there is in the State of Missouri, and that the facihties for man- 
ufacturing it cheaply would place this iron in competition with east- 
ern and southern iron as far east as the Missouri River, and exclude 
all other iron west of the Rocky Mountains, to the Pacific coast. 

"The great variety of ores found in this district, comprising hem- 
atite, specular, magnetic, black oxide and manganese ores, all high in 
metallic iron, and remarkably free from silica, sulphur, and phospho- 
rus, and the easy access and facilities for cheap mining and transpor- 
tation, and the close proximity of abundance of the best fuel, makes 
this one of the most attractive iron deposits to be found in the United 
States. 

" Underlying Mount Carbon and Mount Wheatstone, fifteen to 
thirty miles north of Gunnison, and covering an area of over three 
hundred thousand acres, are five seams of as fine bituminous coal as 
can be found in the United States. These seams vary from three to 
ten feet in thickness, and aggregate thirty feet ; they are opened, 
and most of them are extensively developed. Two of these seams, 
one ten and the other six feet in thickness, make coke of the finest 
quality, yielding 90.71 per cent fixed carbon, 8.67 per cent ash, and 
0.37 per cent sulphur. The coke yield of this coal is 75.76 per cent 
of the weight of the coal. This coking coal is also an exceptionally 
fine gas coal. Mr. D. J. McCanne, superintendent of the Gunnison 
Gas and Water Company, is authority for the statement that his 
yield from this coal, used alone, is nearly six feet of sixteen-candle 
gas per pound of coal. 

"The other seams yield an average of 55 per cent fixed car- 
bon, 33 per cent volatile matter, and 4 per cent ash. One of these 
seams has been covered with a lava capping, the heat and pressure of 
which has converted it into a semi-anthracite, rendering it peculiarly 
adapted to iron manufacture in its raw state. This coal, covering an 
area of over six liunclred acres, lies within fifteen miles of Gunnison. 

" Lying furtlicr north, a distance of twenty-five to forty miles 
from Gunnison, is a large area where these same coal measures have 
been broken up and subjected to heat, leaving here and there, large 
deposits of anthracite coal of very superior tiuality, yielding 98.76 per 
cent fixed carbon and 2.27 per cent ash. This anthracite, so far as 
now developed, covers an area of about ten thousand acres ; but there 
is little doubt that systematic drilling will develop all the other seams, 
as only two of the five are so far discovered. 

"These coal lands are all accessible h\ vail and ha\e been exten- 
sively developed. There was shipped during the year 1886, fifty-one 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 355 

thousand tons of bituminous coal, thirty-two thousand tons of coke, 
and eighteen thousand tons of anthracite. 

" Still farther north, but less accessible, are found more wonderful 
deposits of coal, — anthracite, bituminous, and coking, some of the 
seams being sixteen feet in thickness. A large body of this coal is 
held by the Cunard Steamship Company ; other syndicates control 
large tracts. 

" But the great bulk of this coal and iron land is yet held by the 
original locators, and can be secured at a small advance above the 
government price, which is twenty dollars per acre." 

The most marvellous growth of modern times, however, is the city 
of Denver, Colorado. In 1858 there were only a few tents and huts 
on the spot where the city now stands. Less than fifty people were 
there through the winter of 1858-59, drawn thither by the discovery 
of gold. A barren waste was all that met the vision in e\'ery direc- 
tion at that time; for it was the "Great American Desert," which 
spread out from the Missouri River to the Rocky Mountains, — the 
home of the buffalo and the hunting-ground of the Indian. At the 
banquet of " Pioneers " in Denver, Sept. 13, 1883, — an association 
of men who settled in Colorado previous to 1861, — Governor Steele, 
who was one of the members, said : — 

"I landed in Denver on the 4th of May, 1859. There was noth- 
ing but tents and cabins about here. We had fought our way against 
the current that had turned back, who told us the country was a bar- 
ren land ; that we would starve to death ; that Green Russell had not 
found anything ; and that the reports we had heard were lies. We 
dared not oppose them, nor declare that we intended to come on to 
the end, because they were so determined not to allow any one to 
sacrifice himself, as they called it, that they were ready to mob and 
hang us if we did not yield. We had to steal away from them in 
order to go on." 

No persons are more amazed over the growth of Denver, and, 
indeed, the whole New West, than the " Fifty-niners " (as they have 
been called), who struck fortunes when they struck the junction of 
Platte River and Cherry Creek. 

What do we see now where these pioneers pitched their tents or 
reared their humble cabins .'' The largest, richest, and most beautiful 
city of its age on earth, — a sparkling, costly jewel on the bosom of 
the "desert." Where less than fifty people wintered in 1858-59, 
seventy-five tJioiisand now dwell, — as intelligent, enterprising, and 
generous a population as can be found in New England. The city is 



356 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



handsomely laid out. with wide avenues lined with shade-trees, and 
beautified with irrigating rivulets ; large and costly warehouses and 
public buildings ; street-cars ; the electric light ; water-works ; ele- 
gant churches ; newspapers, and schools unsurpassed by those of 
Boston ; telegraph, telephone, and railway facilities ; in short, every- 
thing necessary to promote the growth of a marvellous city, which 
may contain, in twenty years, a population of two hundred thousand. 

" Beautiful for situation " is Denver, though founded on a " desert " ; 
for that "desert" has been made "to blossom as the rose." The 
Rocky Mountains rise grandly to \-iew along the entire western hori- 
zon. The vision takes in the snow-capped summits for one hundred 
and fifty miles. On the north, " Long's Peak" lifts its tall form, and 
to the south. Pike's Peak towers skyward, with the "snowy range" be- 
tween, presenting a landscape which challenges brush and pencil. 

The business of the city is immense. The last Report of the 
Chamber of Commerce shows that the business of 1886 amounted to 
($67,725,256.05) sixty-seven luillioii seven Jnindrcd thirty-five tJum- 
sand tzvo hundred fifty-six dollars and five cents. The receipts of the 
post-office for the same time, including money-order receipts, were 
($4,455,007.72) four million four hundred fifty-five tJwnsand seven 
dollars and seventy-two cents. Net income to the government 
($86,518.93) eighty-six thousand five hundred eighteen dollars and 
ninety-tJiree cents. The " money-order receipts " amounted to more 
than tivo million dollars. 

The report contains the following respecting the banks of the 
city, showing remarkable solidity of financial institutions: — 



DATF.S. 


C.S„. ,,..,.N.S. C.,.,-,... ,>K,.„S,XS. 


December 20, 1884 . . . 

March ic, 1885 

May I, 1885 

July I, 18S5 

October I, 1885 

December 24, 1885 . . . 


$4,486,694 
4,616,643 
4,553,009 
4,561,410 
5,275,262 
5,249,344 




$4,803,825 
5,185,205 
5,485,519 
5,607,555 
5,854,366 
5,979,604 




$2,070,076 
2,083,419 
2,077,847 
2,086,664 
2,096,490 
2,139,649 




$2,220,470 

7,714,454 
7,960,710 
8,082,324 

9,033,145 
9,089,324 




Gain from Dec. 20, '84, 

to Dec. 24, 1885 .. . 

Percentage of (Jain . . . 


$762,650 


17 


^1.175.779 


24>^ 


^69,563 


3X 


$1,868,854 


26 


I)eccmlicr 24, 1885 . . . $5,249,344 

M.ir. li 1. |SS(, 5,.N^i..?7''' 


. . . $5.97<),6o4 . . . 

. . . (l,,^li),(»)0 . . . 


$2,139,649 
2.125.570 




$9,089,324! . . . 

0,574.'"') ... 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



357 



O.XKS. 


,.o..s. CAnr,.u,. ^ .K,.„sn-s. 


June 3, 1886 

August 27, 1886 

October 7, 1886 

December 28, 1886 . . . 


$5,483,378 
6,055,901 
6,071,305 
5.641.565 




$6,834,821 
7,115,760 
7,292,183 
7,544,694 


... 


$2,195,044 
2,187,392 
2,209,723 
2,296,575 




10,123,179 
10,984,294 

",153,787 
10,889,715 




Gain from Dec. 24, '85, 

to Dec. 28, 18S6 . . . 

Percentage of Clain . . . 


$392,221 


7 


$1,565,090 


26 


$156,926 


7 


$1,800,391 


20 



The returns of the " Denver Clearing House" for 1886, aggregate 
ahnost eighty-six million dollars. 

We have spoken of Denver as the wealthiest city of its size in the 
world. Mr. M. G. Mulhall, the celebrated Irish statistician, has re- 
cently published the following in the Xorth American Reviexv : — 

"In 1830, Great Britain had a population of 24,000,000, and capi- 
tal amounting to $16,890,000,000; in 1850, 27,200,000 population, 
and $25,800,000,000 capital; in 1870, 31,300,000 population, and 
$35,400,000,000 capital ; in 1884, 36,200,000 population, and $45,300,- 
000,000 capital. France had, in 1830, 32,100,000 population, and 
$10,659,000,000 capital; in 1850, 35,700,000 population, and $15,- 
850,000,000 capital ; in 1870, 37,800,000 population, and $26,200,- 
000,000 capital ; in 1884, 38,200,000 population, and $41,200,000,000 
capital. The United States had, in 1830, 12,900,000 population, 
capital not given ; in 1850, 23,200,000 population, and $8,430,000,000 
capital; in 1870, 38,600,000 population, and $35,370,000,000 capital ; 
in 1884, 55,500,000 population, and $51,670,000,000 capital. That 
is, in fifty-four years Great Britain has almost trebled her wealth, 
P^ ranee has nearly quadrupled hers, and the United States has seen 
its capital multiply more than si.xfold." 

We quote these facts for the purpose of saying that Denver has 
far outstripped even the "sixfold" growth of the United States in 
fifty-four years. In half that time it has advanced from nothing to 
forty millions ! 

Broadway, New York City, does not present more enterprise, sta- 
bility, and rush, than we behold in Larimer Street, bating the differ- 
ence in magnitude. Eastern solidity, tact, and forethought seem to 
be mixed up with Western dash, in about equal parts. The result is 
a bustling, thriving, inspiring scene. It is worthy of note, as proof 
of marvellous progress, that twenty-seven years ago, where Larimer 



358 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



Street crosses Cherry Creek, two flattened pine logs with a rou<;h 
board railing, formed a foot-bridge from bank to bank ; and at this 
point, a flour barrel sunk supplied the inhabitants with water. This 
slight convenience for supplying water, contrasted with the present 
water-works in the city and one hundred and fifty artesian wells, 
exhibits a change almost incredible. 

A pictorial representation of such a city will furnish a better idea 
of the character of its people and business than any verbal descrip- 
tion. The first object which surprises the tourist on reaching Denver 
is the " Union Depot." 







mmm ' 





The Union Depot is a magnificent structure, — substantial, com- 
modious, and elegant. It stands at the foot of Seventeenth Street, 
and '\^ five hundred atid tJirec feet long and sixty-nine feet vj'idQ. A 
tower adorns the centre of the building, rising gracefully to the 
height of one Juindred and sixty five feet. It is built of Colorado 
stone, with the exception of the pillars of the arches. 

On the ground floor, at the west end, is the baggage-room, ninety 
by sixt)-tvvo feet in size, provided with every modern improvement 
for handling baggage. On this floor, too, are two spacious waiting- 
rooms for ladies and gentlemen, large dining-hall, ticket office, Pull- 
man ticket office, express offices, barber shop, etc. 

The second floor contains fifty-six offices, occupied chiefly by the 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



359 



Union Pacific Railway Company and the Denver and Rio Grande 
Railway Company for the transaction of their immense business. 

The building is heated by steam, three large boilers in the base- 
ment doing the work, and, at the same time, pumping water to all 
parts of it. It is lighted by gas and the electric light. An artesian 
well, sunk at an expense of three thousand dollars, supplies the depot 
with one hundred and thirty thousand gallons of water every twenty- 
four hours. 

Beautiful grounds and driveways surround the building, adorned 
with fine shade-trees and four fountains, adding an indescribable 

charm to the spot. The 




depot cost Jive hundred 
thousand dollars. It is es- 
timated that fve hundred 
thousand passengers came 
in or went out of this depot 
in 1885. In the same time 
one hundred and ninety 
thousand pieces of bag- 
gage were handled. All 
this, where less than thirty 
\ears ago there was naught 
but a desert waste ! 

A Denver newspaper 
says : " As a sample how 
Denver men travel to dis- 
tant and divergent points, 
a recent day's sale of tick- 
ets at the city office of 
the Union Pacific were 
aptly illustrative. Agent C. H. Olmsted sold tickets to Califor- 
nia, Florida, New York, Alaska, England, and Sweden. He also 
had inquiry for a ticket, which will probably soon be called for, 
via San Francisco, China, Suez Canal, and England to New York 
City. Alaska is a distant portion of the United States, and yet, by 
taking emigrant railway and steerage steamship rates, the journey 
can be made for seventy-five dollars, while first-class fare costs 
only one hundred and twenty-eight dollars. To Sweden the cheap 
rate is sixty-four dollars and seventy-five cents, but coming this way 
to Denver only forty-seven dollars, while first-class fare is about one 
hundied and ten dollars. An agent of a city ticket-office here is 



_«. 



FIRST CAPITOL OF COLORADO. 



36o 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



obliged to keep a globe handy for reference to study out the lines of 
travel desired by residents of Denver." 

The State House of Colorado, situated on Capitol Hill, Denver, 
will be one of the finest structures of the kind in the United States 
when it is completed. It will cost one viillion dollars. The building 
is two hundred and ninety-five feet long, exclusive of portico or steps ; 
its depth at the centre is one hundred and ninety-two feet, and its 
height is three hundred and twenty-six feet, nearly the height of 




Bunker Hill Monument. It is surmounted by a statue of Colorado. 
The statute under which the splendid edifice is reared allows the 
builder four years in which to do his work, or until Jm. i. 1890. 
One thou.sand car-loads of cut stone, eleven million brick, and four 
million pounds of iron will be wrought into the structure. The roof 
will be covered with half-inch slate fastened by brass screws and 
bedded in concrete. ICvery window will be of plate-glass, and the 
interior will be finished in hard wood. 

This very brief description of the Capitol, together with the above 
illustration of it, will enable the reader to appreciate its beauty and 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



361 



grandeur, compared with the first Ca}Mt()l. Standing as it does upon 
an eminence that overlooks the city, its effect upon the traveller 
approaching the metr()i)olis is ins[Mring. It is a crown of glory to 
Denver; and it will proclaim to future generations of Coloradoians 
the noble aim and enterprise of the present. 

The nine lots on which the Tabor Grand Opera House is erected 
cost about sixty thousa)id dollars, which is pretty well for so small a 
slice of the " American Desert." The building has a frontage on Cur- 
tis Street of two hundred and twenty-five, and one hundred and 
twenty-five feet on Sixteenth Street. It is in the Queen Anne 
style of architecture, five stories high, with finished basement. 
The material is Golden pressed brick and Manitou white sand- 
stone trimmings. The partition walls are all of brick. The man- 
sard roof is covered with slate, and the cornice and trimmings of 

galvanized iron. The building is 
surmounted with three towers, the 
main one at the corner of Six- 
teenth and Curtis Streets. The 
height of the grand tower, from 
the pavement to the top of the 
finial, is one hundred and fifty feet. 
On the Curtis Street front, at the 
third story, are three stone balco- 
nies of ornamental design. The 
windows are very numerous, and 
are of the twin or triple order. 
Two large rooms on the ground 
floor, each twenty-five feet wide, and one hundred feet deep, are 
occupied by the post-office. Each story above contains one hun- 
dred and twenty-five rooms, all en suite. To these three stairways 
lead. The Opera House is in the west corner of the building. 
The first object that attracts attention at the main entrance is 
the great white marble step. Standing on this, immediately over- 
head, is a stone portico two stories in height, of very ornamental 
design, supported by two gray granite pillars, two feet six inches in 
diameter, and twenty-eight feet high. The capitals of these pillars 
are elaborately carved. The entrance proper is a great archway of 
Manitou stone, eighteen feet wide and twenty-eight feet high, su]d- 
ported on granite pilasters. Passing through the immense folding- 
doors, the hallway is reached, which is twenty-four feet wide, and 
fifty-four feet deep. The floor of the hall is paved with ATinton tile. 




T,62 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



diamond in shape, and of divers colors. The walls are wainscoted 
in alternate panels of white and gray marble, the ceiling is beauti- 
fully frescoed, and the walls above the wainscoting finely decorated. 
We have not space to describe the beauty and elegance of the inte- 
rior construction, and can only add that the building is supplied with 
artesian water. The building cost eight hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars. 




WINDSOR HOTEL. 



This is a magnificent structure, — the finest hotel in Denver, — 
opened in the summer of i88r. It cost, including land, three hun- 
dred and fifty thou.sand dollars. It is located on the corner of Lari- 
mer and Eighteenth Streets. The building covers a space of two 
hundred by one hundred and twenty-five feet, with a court thirty- 
seven by ninety-four foct in centre, lighting and above the basement, 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 363 

which latter is devoted to airing the interior rooms. There are five 
floors, the steam, washing, and general storage departments. The 
main entrance is in the centre on Larimer Street, with the ladies" 
entrance on Eighteenth Street. There are eight single stores and 
one large double corner store on the ground floor, besides a reading- 
room and a barber shop, all opening into the corridors of the hotel, in 
addition to the street entrances. The public office, with coat rooms 
and lavatory, are in the centre, with the billiard and bar rooms ad- 
joining. The grand dining-room, forty-four by eighty-four feet ; 
ladies' ordinary, thirty-seven by sixty-two feet ; club room ; nurses' and 
children's dining room, twenty by forty feet ; with the three public 
parlors and guests' private rooms on the two fronts, are on the second 
floor. There are about sixty rooms on each of the floors above, mak- 
ing in all about two hundred and twenty-five rooms, aside from the 
public rooms, singly and en suite, with mantels and wash-bowls, and 
those fronting on the two streets have private bath-rooms attached. 
There are two easy and commodious landing staircases in addition to 
the private and servants' stairways. The corridors, extending 
entirely around the building, are wide and well lighted. 

An Otis steam passenger elevator, with every known safety device 
and appliance, completes the appointments of a public house second 
to none in Eastern cities. The hotel is supplied with artesian water. 
It is furnished throughout in the most elegant style of modern art. 

There are several other large, first-class hotels in the city, less 
elegant than the Windsor, but equally well arranged for the comfort 
of guests ; while one or two score of smaller ones, with more modest 
prices, receive their full share of patronage. Some idea of the im- 
mense number of guests in the city may be learned from the fact, 
that, for several years past, the annual arrivals at the hotels have 
exceeded tivo Jiiindrcd thousand. It has been difficult to provide 
accommodations for travellers, so great has been their influx ; and it 
speaks well for hotel proprietors, that they have not taken advantage 
of these circumstances, and charged higher prices than prevail in 
Eastern cities. 

The schools of Denver, and, indeed, of Colorado, excel those of 
Boston and Massachusetts in some particulars. Nor would the 
author limit this remark to Colorado. No better public and private 
schools are found in the East than are found in all the older portions 
of the New West. Adopting the best elements of the Eastern school 
system, tested for years, and adding thereto the latest and best im- 
provements suggested by leading American educators, the friends of 



364 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

education in the New West may well challenge the criticisms of New 
England. But the schools of Denver are exceptionally excellent, and 
its school-buildings are more complete than even those of Boston. 
The late Dr. John D. Philbrick, for many years the accomplished 
superintendent of Boston schools, and one of the most experienced 
and reliable educators of the country, visited the schools of Denver 
in the spring of 1882, and devoted several weeks to a systematic and 
thorough examination of them. He says : — 

" In the first place, the schoolhouses were visited while occupied 
by the pupils, and their qualities — mechanical, economic, hygienic, 
and pedagogical — noted in detail, 'from turret to foundation-stone.' 
Mr. Superintendent Gove then, with documents in hand, went over to 
me, at great length, the organization and practical management of the 
system with respect to administration, supervision, instruction, and 
discipline. Thus instructed, I applied myself to the inspection and 
examination of the classes in the schoolrooms, beginning with the 
lowest Primary, and ending with the graduating class of the High 
School, in hands of Mr. Principal Baker. In this survey, I observed 
carefully the methods of teachers, the proficiency of the pupils, and 
the spirit in which teachers and pupils were working' for the ends in 
view. Finally, I had the privilege of meeting the teachers in a body, 
and of conversing with a considerable number of them. 

"The result may be summed up by saying that I found tlie Den- 
ver school system to be admirable in all respects. Although its origin 
dates back scarcely more than a decade, its development has been 
so wisely and energetically conducted that already it fairly belongs 
to the front rank of city systems. It is pretty safe to say that the 
creation of a system of schools on so large a scale, of such excep- 
tional merits, and in so brief a space of time, is a phenomenon to 
which the history of education affords no parallel. 

" How to get good teachers and to keep them is at once the most 
diflficult and the most important problem in the whole range of school 
economy. And it is but just to the members of the Denver Board 
of Education to say that they have grappled with the problem more 
successfully than any other school board within my knowledge. I 
found by examining into the matter that the happy results attained 
in this direction were due largely, and perhaps chiefly, to the rational 
mode of examination adopted and the plan of appointnients, by which 
favoritism is absolutely e.xcluded, and the choice is determined by 
merit alone." 

We should be glad to quote the whole of Dr. Philbrick's remarks, 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



36s 



but the foregoing are sufficient to justify our praise of Denver 
schools ; and the following concerning the school-buildings of the 
city pronounces them superior to those of Boston, or any other city 
or town in the country : — 

" The schoolhouses of Denver reflect the highest credit upon the 
school officials who are responsible for the plans, and the liberality of 
the citizens in furnishing the fund for their erection. These are all 
handsome and substantial structures, well located on lots of ample 
dimensions. As to cost, they are truly models of a wise economy. 
Every schoolroom is first-class in every respect. The corridors and 








I'iiilimBi; 



ni mm ran 



^- 



HIGH SCHOOL. 



stairs present some original features of no little merit. The Ameri- 
can schoolhouse, which the French Commission to our Centennial 
considered our best model, has schoolrooms of the first order, but 
the corridors are dark and badly ventilated, and the stairs are un- 
satisfactory. It is only just to say that Denver has been more 
successful in remedying these defects so general in our school archi- 
tecture than any other city that I have visited, and I know of no city 
that has better accommodations for all its schools." 

In February, 1879, ^^^ United States government presented the 
whole block one hundred and forty-three to the city, on condition 
that a school-building should be erected upon it. The outcome of 
the sift is the beautiful High School building: as seen in the illustra- 



366 MARI'LILS OF THE NEW WEST. 

tion. The west wing was erected and occupied at once, the accom- 
modations, for the time, being ample. The whole edifice will soon 
be completed and occupied. The west wing accommodates the pu- 
pils ; the east wing contains the museum and library on the first 
floor, and assembly hall on the second floor. The central portion 
contains offices, recitation-rooms, music and drawing rooms, and is so 
constructed as to preserve a remarkable symmetry and beauty of the 
whole. The grounds are so graded as to leave the building on a ter- 
race, a lovely lawn filling the space between the fence and house. 
The block is surrounded with a neat stone coping and iron fence, 
and broad stone walks lead up to the entrance. When the admira- 
ble plan is carried out, trees, fountains, gas lamps, and other attrac- 
tions will add wondrous beauty to well-chosen utility. The whole 
cost will not be far from three hundred thousand dollars, — a school 
edifice that will challenge comparison with any High School building 
in the United States. 

Denver and its schools are well supplied with libraries. The 
report of the Chamber of Commerce furnishes some interesting 
facts. The Public Library of the Denver Chamber of Commerce 
and Board of Trade has sixteen thousand volumes. Its large read- 
ing-room has on file fifteen of the principal American and English 
magazines, fifteen daily and thirty weekly papers. The report says 
of its museum : — 

"In connection with the reading-room is the nucleus of a fine 
museum, embracing the collection of animals, birds, fossil remains, 
relics from the ancient Aztec ruins, etc., of the State Historical 
Society ; a large and very interesting collection of relics from nearly 
all the great battle-fields of the late war ; a cabinet containing sj^eci- 
mens of all the native woods of Colorado ; a carefully selected and 
very valuable cabinet of Colorado minerals, with the basis of a fine 
horticultural and agricultural exhibit in the form of preserved small 
fruits, with grains, grasses, etc. lUit perhaps the most valuable, 
certainly one of the more interesting, is a cabinet of rare old books 
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (originals), some of them 
beautifully illustrated, which was presented by Mr. L. A. Watkins, 
of this city, a connoisseur on works of this class and an enthusiastic 
supporter of the library. Many other contributions of rare speci- 
mens are promised by this patriotic member, and undoubtedly like 
favors will be received from others, so that in a few years the Cham- 
ber of Commerce library and museum will be one of the most attrac- 
tive resorts in the West." 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 367 



Other libraries contain volumes as 



Vols. 

State Library 8223 

State Supreme Court Law Lil)rary . 5000 

Synies' Law Library 6000 

High School Library 3500 

Giliiin School Library 1000 

Whittier School Library 900 



as given below : — 






Vols. 


Longfellow School Library . . . 


300 


Franklin School Liiirary .... 


X34 


Catholic Library Association . . 


1000 


Denver University 




Wolfe, Matthews, and Jarvis Halls 





Denver has a large supply of private schools. The " University 
of Denver " is under the auspices of the Methodist denomination, 
designed to do for the New West what the Boston University is 
doing for New England. It is rapidly increasing its literary advan- 
tages for young ladies and gentlemen. 

"Wolfe Hall " was established by the Episcopal denomination in 
1868, — a home school of the first class, exclusively for girls, capa- 
ble of accommodating from two hundred to three hundred pupils. 

"Jarvis Hall" was established in 1869 by the Episcopal denomina- 
tion, exclusively for boys. It is a thorough school, and very popular. 

" Rrinker's Collegiate Institute" was established in 1877 by Prof. 
Joseph Brinker, of Kentucky. The school has primary, commer- 
cial, musical, military, and collegiate departments, together with a 
" School of the Arts " and a kindergarten. A corps of accomplished 
teachers, thoroughly trained for their work, assures the best of disci- 
pline and culture. The capacity of the school for the accommoda- 
tion of scholars has been tested from the beginning. 

All of these private institutions occupy large, substantial, and 
handsome buildings. 

There are other prosperous private schools in the city which chal- 
lenge public confidence by their broad plans and thorough work; and 
we mean no invidious comparison by calling attention to the forego- 
ing. Our only purpose is to furnish the reader with a sample of the 
schools and school-buildings to be found upon what was so recently 
the Sahara of the West. 

Churches are numerous, all denominations being represented in 
the list. Several houses of worship in the city are elegant and costly 
structures. 

GROWTH OF C0L0NIP:S. 

The remarkable success of certain colonies in the New West 
deserves special notice. Their growth and prosperity are among the 
marvels of that wonderful country. Our space, however, will admit 



368 MAKn:LS or t/ik M-:ir west. 

the history of only two. The first is that of Greeley, Colorado, 
founded in 1870. The originator of it was the late Horace Greeley, 
of New York, whose name the beautiful town bears. 

The citi/ens celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of the colony in 
18S5, and Cicn. R. A. Cameron tokl tlie story of its life as follows : — 

" It was in December, 1869, that the first call was issued for a meet- 
ing for the formation of this colony. It was agreed that Mr. Meeker 
should write a letter for publication in the New York Tribune, asking 
those who thought of moving West to establish a colony with high 
moral purposes and temperance platform, to get together in Cooper 
Institute on the day before Christmas. He did so ; and on that day, the 
24th of December, 1869. the first meeting was held. At that meeting 
there were about one hundred and fifty people present — there might 
have been two hundred. I\Irs. Cameron was the only lady present ; 
and after two hours' discussit)n it was tletermineil that we should 
form a colony, and the name adopted was 'Union Colony, No. r.' 
An executive committee was appointed, and Mr. Meeker made presi- 
dent. I was made vice-president, and afterwards superintendent. 
The colonw at their second meeting, appointed a locating or visiting 
committee ; it consisted of Mr. Meeker, a man by the name of Fiske, 
of Toledo, and myself. After w^e got on the road, it was seen that 
Mr. Fiske took but little interest in the colony, and consequently, by 
mutual consent, we i")ut Mr. West in his j^lace. 

" Well, wc rambled over Colora lo ami Utah, and lookeil at loca- 
tions hither and thither, and finally concluded that the Cache la 
Poudre Valley was the best place to locate in, and returned to New 
York and reported. It seemed desirable that we should keep it a 
secret, and we did so until the land had been secured. The locations 
suggested were very numerous. The Hear River Valley near Salt 
Lake; the Great Bend region on the Platte. — a location near Fort 
Collins; but we thought after close scrutiny that this was the better 
soil for wheat and potatoes. At one time 1 believed we would locate 
in the Big Bend region, near IMatlevillc. Mr. Meeker was earnest in 
his desire to locate there, ami I liked that location myself. Hut we 
met a friend and adviser in the person of oin- now honored governor, 
Benjamin H. Eaton, who had a good deal to say about the soil and 
his experience in this country and New Mexico ; and his persuasion 
brought us here to the Poudre Valley. 

"At first it was not settled that this should be so exclusively a 
temperance colonv The tiuestion was not iliscussed as to how far 
we should go in this regard, until one night Mr. Greeley sent for me, 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 369 

and asked me to meet him and Mr. Meeker in his office up stairs in the 
Tribimc building, when Mr. Greeley said to us something like this : — 

'"There are very many places in the work! you can go to and get 
drunk, but there are very few places that you can go U> where you 
are obliged to keep sober. It is very ea.sy to get drunk, but it is 
very hard to stay sober. Now, there are men, the husbands of good 
women, who drink, and their wives want to save them ; there are 
intelligent young men of great promise, whose fathers and mothers 
want to save them from the evil influences of drink ; there are sisters 
who have brothers they want to .save. Now, I desire and am earnest 
for humanity's sake, that you peo])le build up an a.sylum under the 
shadow of the Rocky Mountains, under new circumstances, where 
you shall live by irrigation and flom-ish in a new clime, where a man 
can go and cannot get drunk, 'i'licre are many men who desire such 
a place. As there are thousands of places where men can get drunk, 
let us have one place where they cannot get drunk. What I desire 
in this matter is not for myself, but for humanity.' 

" And as he spoke, the tears came into the eyes of that great 
head, and the deepest emotion swelled that great heart. All c(Mn- 
mercial reasons, all other objections, all other objects floated from 
my vision, and Mr. Meeker, rising from the table at which we were 
sitting, said, ' That is the platform.' Mr. (jreeley looked over to me 
and said : ' Mr. Cameron, what do you say t We desire you to go 
with us, and we want you to become imbued with this spirit of 
humanity.' I arose, reached my hand across the table, and fook 
his extended hand in mine, and with weeping eyes we swore 
together that we would devote our lives to this purpose, to this ideal, 
to this inspiration, until, with the aid of God Almighty, it sliould 
pr(jve a success. 

" Of the struggle, the hardships, the grievances, personal disasters, 
etc., of the early colonists, I have nothing to say to-day. It is suf- 
ficient for us to know that the ideal, the vision, has become a realiza- 
tion. It is sufficient to know that all the bloom has ripened into 
golden fruit. To-day we have here the most peaceable, the most 
prosperous, the most law-abiding, the most conscientious, the most 
intelligent, the most earnest, the large.st-hearted people which God 
ever brought together. And the people all over the State have 
drawn inspiration from it. 

" Longmont Colony followed it; P^ort Collins followed it ; Colorado 
Springs followed it ; Manitou followed it ; the development of the 
railway system followed it ; the development of the natural resources 



370 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

of Colorado followed it. The inspiration which has made Colorado 
what she is, is in a great measure attributed to the influences of 
Union Colony. Such men as Shattuck, Nettleton, Eaton, and Pabor, 
who have done so much for our State, are the outi;rowth of this 
colony. The inspiration which this colony has given, and which 
extends like a halo over the tops of the Rocky ^Mountains, and is 
seen even to the sea and all over the continent to-day, is immeasur- 
able. To Mr. Greeley, Mr. Meeker, and all those devoted spirits who 
started this conception and stayed with it all through its trials, 
troubles, and tribulations, there is nothing but glory, honor, and 
success, and to them be praise for evermore for the great work they 
have accomplished." 

The call for the first meeting in New York, written by Mr. Meeker, 
contained the following paragraphs : — 

" I propose to unite with proper persons for the establishment of 
a colony in Colorado Territory, and the persons with whom I would 
be willing to associate must be temperance men, and men ambitious 
to establish good society. 

" My plan would be to make the settlement almost wholly in a vil- 
lage ; all the lots of the village should be sold, that funds may be ob- 
tained for making improvements for the common good, such as the 
building of a church, a town hall, a schoolhouse, and for the establish- 
ment of a library. Adjoining the village, the outlying tracts could be 
apportioned, by lot or otherwise, in size according to distance from the 
village centre. Some of the advantages of settling in a village will 
be easy access to schools and public places, meetings, lectures, and 
the like, and society can be had at once. 

" I make the point that two important objects are to be gained by 
such a colony. First, schools, refined society, and all the advantages 
of an old country will be secured in a few years, while on the con- 
trary, where settlements are made by the old methods, people are 
obliged to wait twenty, forty, or more years. Second, with free 
homesteads as a basis, with the sale of lots for the general good, the 
greatly increased values of real estate will be for the benefit of all 
the people, not for schemers and s])eculators. In the success of this 
colony, a model will be presented for settling the remainder of the 
vast territory of our country. 

" Third, whatever professions and occupations enter into the forma- 
tion of an intelligent, educated, and thrifty community, should be 
embraced by this colony, and it should be the object to exhibit all 
that is best in modern civilization. In particular should moral and 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 17 1 

religious sentiments prevail, for without these qualities man is nothing. 
At the same time, tolerance and liberty should also prevail. 

" One thing more is equally important. Happiness and wealth 
and the glory of a state spring from the family, and it should be an 
aim and ambition to preserve the family pure in all its relations, and 
to labor with the best efforts life and strength can give to make the 
home comfortable, to beautify and adorn it, and to supply it with 
whatever will make it attractive and loved." 

" Temperance, Education and Religion " were the three pillars of 
the colony from the start. How nobly the colonists adhered to their 
purpose to provide the best schools for their children, appears from 
the following illustration of their first school-building, erected when 
the colony was but three years old, at an expense of tJiirtv-five 
tJioiisand dollars. Two ward schoolhouses, in addition, cost ten 
thousand dollars each. 

Few towns or cities in the East can boast a more elegant school- 
building than this. It is built of brick, and is provided with 
all the modern improvements of a first-class schoolhouse, including 
chemical and philosophical apparatus, laboratory, library, etc., etc. 
From personal observation we do not hesitate to say, that, within it 
are schools, including High School, that are equal in thoroughness 
and discipline to the best schools of New England. Teachers are 
paid nearly twice the salary paid in Massachusetts towns of like 
population and wealth, thereby securing the best teachers to be 
found east or west. 

The grounds are ample and beautiful, occupying a whole block, 
with Lincoln Park in front. Part of the grounds are laid out in 
delightful lawns, which irrigation keeps green and velvety. The 
remaining portion furnishes a convenient play-ground for both sexes ; 
and the whole is beautified with thrifty shade trees. A janitor is 
employed, on a salary of five hundred dollars annually, to take care 
of the building and grounds. He must be present when the school 
is in session, to respond promptly to the calls of teachers and pupils 
for his services. He sweeps the whole building daily, washes the 
stairways and halls weekly, and keeps the interior as neat and clean 
as a good housekeeper does her home. With a population of two 
thousand five hundred, Greeley has been appropriating an average 
of ten thousand five hundred dollars for its schools for several years, 
— nearly twice as much as the towns of Massachusetts of the same 
size expend upon their schools. At the fifteenth anniversary of the 
colony, Hon. J. C. Shattuck, then a resident of Greeley, and super- 



372 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING. 



intcndcnt of the schools of Colorado, called attention to the following 
significant fact : — 

"When, in the unfinished room of that schoolhouse on the 13th 
of October, 1873, the citizens voted to instruct the district board to 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



373 



raise as a special tax for that year, in the midst of their poverty, with 
scarce a thousand men here who were not Hving on the means they 
brought with them ; under such circumstances, they instructed their 
district board to raise by special tax for the purpose of building and 
carrying on of schools through the year, the sum of eight thousand 
dollars. That, put on to the regular school tax for that year, ladies 
and gentlemen, meant a total school tax that year of five per cent. 
If that is not a record of which any people might be proud, then show 
me another. They voted it themselves, paid it themselves, and with- 
out a murmur ; and as I think of it, and think of who these people 
were, of their indomitable spirit, their proud independence, I can 
imagine very easily what a rebellion had been here, if any power 
above us had ordered a tax of five per cent that year ; but we did it 
ourselves and paid it, and finished our school-building, now the pride 

of the city, and kept our school 
going. That spirit, ladies and 
gentlemen, is a prouder legacy 
and richer endowment than any 
people ever had in dollars and 
cents." 

It is the policy in the New 
West to erect commodious, sub- 
stantial, and handsome school- 
buildings in the outset. It is 
deemed both economical and 
wise to build them for a gen- 
eration, or longer. Hence, on approaching many Western towns, the 
traveller beholds a large, elegant, brick edifice, attractive beyond all 
other structures in the place ; and he soon learns to say : " That is the 
schoolhouse." But the policy is otherwise in erecting houses of wor- 
ship. With their limited means, it is economic to provide temporary 
places of worship at first. Hence, for ten years, the Congregational 
Church of Greeley worshipped "on the spot where the first public relig- 
ious service in the colony was held in an adobe building occupied at 
first as a hotel, and called the ' Park House.' " Now the society occu- 
pies an attractive house of worship, erected at an expense of seven or 
eight thousand dollars. The city contains six houses of worship at 
present, — Congregational, Presbyterian, United Presbyterian, Bap- 
tist, Methodist, and Episcopal, all of them worthy of the service to 
which they are dedicated. The Unitarians worship in a hall. 

The above cut represents the first building in which religious wor- 




FIRST PLACE OF WORSHIP. 



74 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



ship was maintained. It was 
an old build ini;- removed from 
Cheyenne. Lumber had to be 
hauled thirty or forty miles, 
so that the purchase and re- 
moval of this building proved 
a godsend to the pioneers. It 
was used for a boarding-house, 
freight-house, and public hall. 
Here all secular and religious 
meetings were held. Bustle 
and confusion reigned within 
it through the week ; but on 
Sunday morning, trunks, bales, 
and packages were arranged for 
seats, and the people gathered for worship. Subsequently it was con- 
verted into a schoolhouse, and was so used until the elegant new 
schoolhouse was completed, when it was converted into a livery stable, 
to which purpose it has been devoted ever since. In those early days, 




FIRST HOTEL. 




LAST HOTEL — THE OASIS. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 375 

when it was used for a variety of purposes, it was called " Hotel de 
Comfort." Without it the hardships of the pioneers would have 
been largely multiplied. 

The two cuts on page 359, by contrast, show the difference between 
tJicn and noio. A shelter only was demanded in 1870; noiv, conven- 
ience, elegance, luxury. The new public house is called "The 
Oasis," and was erected at an expense of cigJity thousand dollars, 
thirteen years after the " Greeley House " offered only poor shelter 
to wayfarers. Several other hotels, less pretentious than " The Oasis," 
though far, far in advance of the " Greeley House," are found in the 
city. The colony purchased more than seventy thousand acres of 
land ; nine thousand acres of the Denver Pacific Railway Company, 
for thirty-one thousand dollars ; two thousand five hundred acres of 
individuals, for twenty-eight thousand dollars ; and sixty thousand 
acres of the United States Government. For irrigation, a ditch was 
dug around the whole tract, taking water from the Cache de Poudre 
River. Herds of cattle grazed upon these plains, so that the farms of 
the colonists must be protected by fences. But many of them had spent 
their last dollar when this stubborn fact confronted them. For this rea- 
son, the colony decided to put a wire fence around the whole 
tract (more than fifty miles of fence), thus protecting all, at the 
public expense. Each man paid Jive dollars for current expenses 
when he joined the colony, and, held subject to the call of the Treas- 
urer, one hundred and fifty dollars for the purchase of land. 

The town is laid out in squares, the streets being one hundred feet 
wide, including sidewalks twelve feet wide on each side. Both sides 
of each street are lined with shade trees ; and on one side of each 
street, also, is an irrigating ditch, dispensing its fresh, pure water, to 
make the vegetation green and cheerful. Tlie town has a hundred 
miles of irrigating canals. It is appropriately called the " Garden 
City." 

The following illustration represents one of the several fine busi- 
ness blocks which are an ornament to the town. It was erected at an 
expense of nearly eighty thousand dollars. The demand for such 
structures may be learned from the following statement of a Tribune 
(Denver) correspondent, who collected the facts and statistics with 
great care for publication : — 

" Few cities of its age and size have attained the world-wide repu- 
tation of Greeley. During the year (1885) two very fine brick blocks 
have been erected on Main Street : one by the First National Bank, 
costing $40,000 ; the other, by Hunter & West, bankers, costing 



376 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



$60,000. Last year Mr. Hunter also built a magnificent three-story 
brick block opposite the F'irst National Bank, in which is located the 
Post Office and the Masonic Hall. 

" Greeley also boasts of a well-organized fire department, with a 
steam fire-engine, and a military company numbering sixty-two. The 
latter has the finest armory in the State, and a drill-room 47 x 112 in 
the new Hunter block. 




f I A 

3'^ 



BUSINESS BLOCK. 



"The Electric Light Company have their plant, costing $1 5,000, 
nearly completed, and Greeley will soon be lighted with electricity. 
Six artesian wells, depth 1,200 feet, suj-jply the town with fine drink- 
ing-water. A large library, containing 3,000 \()Uunes, has lieen 
established during the year. A system of drainage and sewerage 
has been adopted by the Town Board, and the tiling is now being 
laid, ten to fifteen feet deep. There are eight ))hysicians and ten 
lawyers in Greeley, who have a healthy community and an empty 
jail for their encouragement. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 377 

"The following is a list of Greeley's business houses, with the 
amount of business done during the year : — 

" Five agricultural implement dealers, $130,000 ; 3 bookstores and 
music dealers, $45,000 ; i bakery, $6,000; 5 blacksmiths, $15,000; 
10 building contractors, $200,000; 3 barbers, $7,000; i business 
college, 27 pupils; 3 clothing dealers, $100,000; 5 confectioners, 
$15,000; 3 coal dealers, $30,000; 3 carriage and wagon dealers, 
$20,000; I candy manufacturer, $3,500 ; 2 dentists, $4,000 ; 3 drug 
stores, $35,000; 4 dry goods, boots and shoes, $145,000; 6 eating 
houses, $20,000; I elevator, $200,000; 2 flouring mills, $250,000; 2 
feed stores, $10,000; 2 furniture dealers, $20,000; i gunsmith, 
$1,500; 7 groceries and provisions, $200,000; 3 general merchandise, 
$85,000; 2 hardware, $50,000; 3 harness makers, $20,000; 4 hotels, 
$55,000 ; 3 jewellers, $20,000 ; 2 lime dealers, $7,000 ; 2 lumber yards, 
$70,000; 2 liveries, $5,000; 2 merchant tailors, $10,000; 5 milliners, 
$20,000 ; 5 meat markets, $60,000 ; 2 photographers, $4,000 ; 2 prod- 
uce dealers, $150,000; 3 paint shops, $15,000; i sash factory, 
$20,000; I sewing-machine office, $5,000; 4 shoe shops, $10,000; 2 
tobacco dealers, $7,000 ; i violin maker, $2,000 ; i wagon maker, 
$5,000. Total, $2,080,500. 

" In addition to the above, there are three banks, whose aggrega- 
ted capital is $205,000, with a deposit account of $375,000, The real 
estate agents made sales amounting to $180,000. The Building and 
Loan Association, capital stock, $200,000, organized in 1883, has 
cleared up to the present time, three years, forty per cent upon its 
investments. The three brick-yards made about 1,000,000 bricks each, 
during the year, all of which were used in Greeley. Hawks & Tuck- 
armon's Creamery, about three miles from (ireeley, made over 15,000 
pounds of butter during the past year. The life and fire insurance 
companies have written policies amounting to nearly $1,000,000 dur- 
ing the year 1885. 

" The market gardeners and fruit growers have organized a stock 
company for the purpose of building a canning factory in Greeley 
the coming season. The gardens about Greeley are very productive, 
profitable, and among the chief attractions to strangers. Gardenside 
Avenue and Eighth Street, upon which they are mostly located, form- 
ing the principal boulevard of the town. 

" The financial condition of the town is good, it being out of debt, 
and its warrants at par." 

From the report of the secretary of Greeley's Board of Trade for 
1885 we extract the following : — 



3/8 MARVELS OF THE NEW II EST. 

" There are no saloons, and consequently we have no need of a 
police force. One marshal is appointed by the board, and during 
1885 he made no arrests. This, in a city of two thousand five hun- 
dred population, is remarkable. His services for the vear cost eighty- 
three dollars. 

" The business houses would be an honor to a city much larger, 
few cities having finer stores or more complete stocks of goods. All 
these, coupled with a community of intelligent, progressive citizens, 
make a city that we are proud of, and to which we invite those who 
desire to settle in a home where the temptations of liquor and gam- 
bling are not thrown around the young ; where the sun shines three 
hundred and fifty days in the year ; where we never have a cyclone ; 
where the air is dry and pure ; and, best of all, where the beautiful 
Rockies, with their snow-clad summits, are always in full view for 
over one hundred miles. 

"Over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars were spent in 1885 
in improvements, besides a system of sewerage which was built by 
the city. The schools are not surpassed by any, east or west. 

" The total number of pounds of produce, potatoes, flour, and 
grain, shipped from the Greeley station in 1884, was 26,375,580. 
This in connection with hay makes a showing equalled by few cities 
of its size in the West." 

The reader may be curious to know how the Colony succeeded 
with its temperance platform. In the East, many of the leaders of 
thought and enterprise believe that a liquor-shop is indispensable to 
civilization ; but here is a town, at the base of the Rocky Mountains, 
proposing to get on without even one. How could this be done .-' 
From a paper read before the "Colorado Historical Society," by 
Hon. W. E. Pabor, we extract the following: — 

"May 12, 1870, in executive committee, a resolution was adopted 
requiring the insertion, in all deeds to be given, of the following- 
clause : ' That it is a part of the consideration in this deed, that 
Intoxicating liquors shall not l)e manufactured or sold as a beverage,, 
nor shall gambling of any kind be permitted on the j^remises 
conveyed.' " 

Five rnonths thereafter the first test occurred, of which Mr. Pabor 
speaks thus : — 

" October 23 was the Sabbath day, and therefore a day for good 
deeds. It had been rumored during the preceding week that a saloon 
had been opened on a ranch adjoining tlie town in which the Colony 
owned a half-interest. At the close of the morning service in Colony 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



379 



hall, we were requested to remain, and a brief statement of the case 
was made. A committee was appointed to visit the saloon-keeper 
and report. About two hundred persons accompanied the committee. 
The keeper, of course, asserted the rights he had obtained from the 
parties owning the other half-interest in the land and building, but 
at last a compromise was effected by which the liquor was to be 
removed to a place of safety, while the matter v/as investigated. But 
parties present who did not endorse such action soon fomented a 

disturbance, and shortly the 
building was found to be on 
fire in two or three places. 
The rum, the card-tables, the 
decanters, the dice-boxes, etc., 
were speedily hustled out, and 
a line of men with water buck- 
ets formed to the river just 
below ; but the pails were 
leaky and the men unskilful, 
and so the building burned 
down. The affair culminated 
in the justice's court, but no 
one knoweth, even unto this 
day, if the shanty was set on 
fire or it was a case of spon- 
taneous combustion." 

At this time the colony 
numbered one thousand, and 
three hundred and fifty-two 
houses had been built, or were 
in process of building. 
The name of Nathan C. Meeker, first president of the Greeley 
Colony, has appeared in the foregoing pages. He was a philanthro- 
pist and noble man, and his tragic end deserves mention here. He 
was appointed Indian agent to the White River Agency, and accepted 
the trust solely on account of his desire to benefit the Indians. He 
thought that he could readily teach them how to till the soil, whereby 
to support themselves, and, at the same time, establish schools among 
them that would insure their intellectual growth. He thought they 
might be made industrious, intelligent, and virtuous. But, alas ! Mr. 
Meeker was massacred by the treacherous men whom he sought to 
benefit, on the twenty-third day of September, 1879. The Indians 




MEEKER AND HIS HOME. 



3 So MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

were unwilling to work, and grew restive under the white man's rule. 
Naturally lazy and indolent, they became dissatisfied with their ben- 
efactor and his plans. After an interview with Mrs. Meeker, and 
carefully studying the history of the barbarous affair, we believe 
that these lazy, thievish, treacherous Utes, properly called savages, 
murdered Mr. Meeker, because he persisted in teaching them indus- 
try and virtue. 

Colonel Steele was at the agency on the loth of September, and 
witnessed so much excitement among the Indians, that he suggested 
to Mr. Meeker's secretary that the redskins were bent on mischief. 
After this conversation with the secretary, "Ute Jack" approached 
the Colonel, and said : — 

" What white man want } White man go. Indian want white 
man go. Indian no like plough and go school. Meeker all time say 
'work and go school.' 

" Presently another Indian approached him, and fired off his ' white 
man go.' " 

Colonel Steele had abundant reason to believe that the massacre 
was deliberately planned some time before it occurred — one of the 
most heartless and hellish butcheries to be found in the annals of 
time. The following account of it by Mrs. Meeker was published in 
the New York Herald, soon after her release from captivity : — 

" I went with my daughter Josephine to the White River agency, 
where we joined my late husband (the agent) July 17, 1878. We did 
not like the site of the old agency, as it was in a caiion. The altitude 
was too great for the practice of agriculture, and the winds blew 
fiercely and constantly. The gov^ernment, therefore, gave permission 
to Mr. Meeker to move the agency twenty miles further down the 
White River to a beautiful valley, where the grass is always green, 
where there is no snow, and where there is plenty of land to cultivate, 
and timber in abundance. 

" Trouble began when the agent indicated an intention of plough- 
ing eighty acres of land lying between Douglass Avenue and the 
river. The Indians had not used the land except for their ponies to 
run on. It was open and unoccupied. As soon as he heard of any 
dissatisfaction about the matter, the agent called the Indians together 
and settled it by obtaining the consent of the majority of the Indians 
to plough. Chief Johnson failed to attend the council, and when the 
Utes gave their permission he grew angry, and it was his son who 
shot at the ploughman. Afterward Johnson said he was ' no angry ' ; 
but back of all this there were signs of wickedness and secret plot- 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 38 1 

ting, suspicious movements, increasing rumors, large sales of ammu- 
nition, and false charges that the agent had cut down the rations. 
This last was false. The government had reduced or changed the 
issue of rations for all the Indians. My husband gave the White 
River Indians regular and full government rations, but he had orders 
from Washington not to issue rations to the Uncompahgre, Uintah, 
Arapahoe, or other outside visiting Indians. This was according to 
his official instructions. The object was to keep the Indians from 
straying from the reservation and wandering around the country. 
The Uncompahgre Utes complained to Ouray, and this is the founda- 
tion for the statements published that the agent withheld their sup- 
plies. All the White River Utes proper were fed according to law, 
and those who w^orked on the canal received double rations, extra 
blankets and shoes, and all kinds of agency goods which they needed. 
An Indian woman was hired to cook for the Indian workmen, and 
they were paid fifteen dollars a month, cash, for working on their 
land. 

" The Indians were well treated, but the agent did not propose to 
have them take charge of his household and office, and dictate to him 
how he should conduct his affairs. He would not tolerate their idle- 
ness and insolence, so they conspired to get him out of the way. 
They clamored for a new agent, and it was only when they heard of 
the troops coming that they became frightened at the results of their 
work. Jane, the woman v/ho first growled about the ploughing, 
spoke good English. After we were captured, she said : — 

'"What could you expect.? The Indians had to kill the whites, 
because neither they nor the agent would do as the Utes told them 
to do.' 

" On the morning of the massacre Douglass came to the agency 
and spoke of the soldiers coming. My husband said : — 

" ' Let them come. They will not hurt any one. But we will 
send for all the chiefs and head captains, and hear their complaints, 
and talk the matter over.' 

" Douglass did not say much, and w^ent away. We did not fear 
any particular danger, though on Saturday, three days before the 
massacre, they had moved their tents and women and children to the 
wilderness. The Indian Pauvitz asked me on Saturday, Sunday, and 
Monday, if I was afraid. I said, 'No.' Pauvitz was the husband of 
Jane. 

" I was in the kitchen w-ith my daughter, washing dishes, about 
half-past one o'clock. We had just finished dinner. Some of the In- 



382 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

dians had eaten with us, and Chief Douglass had been picking around 
the table and joking with my daughter Josephine while we were 
washing the dishes. There came a volley of firearms — a succession 
of sharp explosions. It was startling, and I knew what was coming. 
My daughter and I looked into each other's faces. Mrs. Price, who 
was washing clothes at the door, rushed in, exclaiming : — 

"'What shall we do .^ ' 

"Josephine said, 'Keep all together,' and the girl was as cool as 
if she were receiving callers in a parlor. 

"The windows were shot in. Our first move was to get under the 
bed in Josephine's room to avoid the bullets, which were whizzing 
over our heads. Josephine had the key of the milk house, and pro- 
posed to go there. The bullets were flying like hailstones, and we 
locked ourselves into the milk house, which had double walls filled in 
with adobe clay, and there was only one little window. We stayed 
there all the afternoon, and heard no sounds but the crash of guns. 
W'e knew all the men were being killed, and expected that the In- 
dians would finish the day wuth the butchery of the women. Frank 
Dresser came in shot through the leg. He killed an Indian just as 
we let him into the milk house. 

" About five o'clock in the afternoon the firing ceased and all was 
still. Suddenly we heard the low crackling of flames, and smelt smoke. 
Then we saw it coming through the cracks in the ceiling, and knew 
that the destruction of the agency buildings had begun. 

" \\' hile in the building we barely whispered, and tried to keep 
Mrs. Price's babies still. As the fire was increasing we left the milk 
house cautiously, and Josephine reconnoitered the enemy. 

" ' It is a good time to escape,' she said. ' The Indians are busy 
stealing agency goods.' 

" We went around in front of the agent's ofifice, and found the 
doors open and things undisturbed, except that some of my husband's 
clothing lay on the front stoop. We saw no one, living or dead, and 
no sign of any one having been killed. We ran, in a line with the 
buildings, toward the sage brush, so as to keep tlic builtlings between 
us and the Indians, who were at the warehouse pulling out the goods ; 
but we had not gone far before we were discovered, and the Indians 
made for us, firing as they ran. The bullets fell all arcnnid us, and 
one struck me on the thigh, ploughing through the flesh, just under 
the skin. It stung me like a wasp, and I thought it time to drop. 
I fell to the ground. The Indians captured Josephine and Mrs. 
Price first, as they were behind me, with Mrs. Price's babies. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 383 

" You have my daughter's account of her experience. A chief, 
whose name I could never learn, came to me and said he was ' heap 
sorry.' He asked me if I could get up. I said ' Yes.' He then asked 
me if I would go with him. I said 'Yes.' He said he was 'heap 
mad; soldier killed Indian;' he saw them shoot, and he was 'heap 
mad.' They would 'no kill women and children.' The Indians had 
so ordered it. He said he would take me to Chief Douglass' house, 
and asked if I had any whiskey. I said, ' No ' ; and he asked if I had 
any money. I answered that there was some in my room in the build- 
ing then on fire. The Indian told me to get it and he would wait for 
me. He was afraid to go into the burning building. I got the money, 
the Indian urging me to hurry up, as he had a great way to go that 
night. We went to Douglass' camp, and the Indian made me count 
the money. There were thirty dollars. The Indian took it and gave 
it to Chief Douglass. I had two silver dollars, and Douglass gave 
them to the Indian who captured me. The Indian then went away. 
I told Douglass that I must have some blankets. He sent an Indian 
named Thompson to the burning building with me, and I got a hood, 
a shawl, and one blanket. I handed around bedding, etc., among 
the Indians, rather than have them destroyed. The Indians took 
them, and I afterward saw them in camp, when I was suffering for 
the want of blankets to keep me warm. I told Douglass that I wanted 
my medicine and my 'spirit book.' I had doctored Douglass and his 
family. He said ' Go ' ; so I went back a second time, and got a large 
copy of ' Pilgrim's Progress ' and a bo.x of medicines. The box was 
so heavy that an Indian refused to carry it. It was lost, but he took 
the book. When I got back to Douglass, and told that chief the 
Indian had said that the medicine chest was too heavy to carry, 
Douglass looked disappointed and sorrowful, and asked : — 

" ' Couldn't you have s])lit the box a little, so you could have 
brought part of it } ' 

" In going back this last time I saw the body of my husband 
stretched on the ground in front of the warehouse ; all the clothing 
was gone but the shirt. The body was not mutilated. The arms 
were extended at the side of the head. The face looked as peaceful 
and natural as in life, but blood was running from the mouth. I 
stooped to kiss him ; but just as my lips were near his, I .saw an In- 
dian standing stone still, looking at me, so I turned and walked away. 
Douglass afterward said that my husband was shot through the side 
of the head. 

" Preparations to leave immediately were made. It was now dark. 



384 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



and Douglass lost no time in getting started. Being lame from hav- 
ing had a thigh dislocated three years ago, and not being used to 
riding, I asked to ride behind Douglass. The moon came out so 
clearly that the 
night seemed 
like day. We 
forded the river 
and trotted off 
towards the 
mountains on 
the south, 

"Douglass' 
breath smelled 
strongly of whis- 
key. He said : 
'Your father 
dead ; I had a 
father once ; he 
too is dead. 
Agent no under- 
stand about the 
fight Indians 
make.' 

"The other 
Indians all took 
out bottles of 
whiskey, which 
they held up be- 
tween their eyes 
and the moon as 
they drank, so as 
to see how much 
was left. Doug- 
lass, as he rode 
along, sang what 
seemed to be an 

obscene song to a pretty melody in slow measure. When he had 
finished, he asked how I liked it. My limb ached so terribly that I 
could scarcely sit on the horse. Douglass held it a while ; then he 
strapped it in a kind of a sling to his saddle. I asked if I could see 
my daughter, Josephine. Douglass replied, 'Yes.' As we rode, a 




TY OF MRS. MEEKER AND DAUGHTER 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 385 

villanous-looking Indian trotted alongside, and slapped me on the 
shoulder, and asked mc how I would like to be his squaw, and made 
indecent proposals. Chief Douglass listened and laughed. He said 
the Indian was an Arapahoe, and I would kill Utes if I married an 
Arapahoe. 

" We left the trail, and came to a little caiion in the mountains, 
with high rocks on all sides. All dismounted, and the prisoners were 
searched by the Indians, even to our shoes and stockings. They 
stole my pocket-book, which was full of needles, and a handkerchief ; 
but they gave the handerchief back. They talked indecently to us, 
and made shameful proposals. They were drunk, and their conver- 
sation was loud with ribaldry. They even threatened me with death 
if I did not submit to their bestiality. Fortunately I escaped outrage, 
but had to submit to terrifying threats of violence and death. Doug- 
lass went through the burlesque of imitating the employees in keep- 
ing guard at the agency. He mocked the soldiers, walking up and 
down with a gun on his shoulder, and sang. 

"As I lay on the ground, not knowing when I should be butch- 
ered, I thought of my young daughter Josephine, who was not far 
away, and wondered if she had already been slaughtered. My face 
was partly covered, but suddenly I heard Douglass' voice. I turned 
and saw Chief Douglass standing close by me, with the muzzle of his 
gun pointed directly at my face. I involuntarily cried out. Jose- 
phine heard me, and her voice came out of the night, saying : — 

" ' I am all right, mamma ; don't be afraid ! ' 

" Douglass lowered his gun, raised it again, and took aim. I said 
nothing and he walked away. An Indian standing near said : — 

" 'Douglass no hurt you ; he only playing soldier.' 

" After resting for half an hour we remounted and rode until mid- 
night, when we reached the Ute women's camp. Douglass ordered 
me roughly to get off the horse. I was so lame and in such pain 
that I told him I could not move. He took my hand and pulled me 
off, and I fell on the ground because I could not stand. An Indian 
and a squaw soon came and helped me up, and led me to a tent. 
When I went to bed Douglass and his wife covered me with blankets, 
and I was more comfortable that night than at any other time during 
my captivity. Early next morning Douglass awoke me, saying : — 

" ' Runner just come ; Indians killed heap soldiers ; Douglass go 
to front ; gone five days.' He said I must stay in his tent and wait 
until he returned. 

" Douglass' squaw treated me very well for one or two days ; then 



386 MARVELS OF THE NEW I VEST. 

she began to ill-use me, and gave nie nothing to eat for one day. 
While Douglass was gone, his son-in-law told me frightful stories. 
He said the Indians 'no shoot ' me, but would stab me to death with 
knives. One squaw went through the pantomime of roasting me 
alive ; at least, I so understood it. Josephine told me that it was only 
done to torment me. If Douglass had got killed, I would probably 
have been punished. A row of knives was prepared with scabbards 
and placed in the tent for use. Then Douglass' son-in-law, Johnson, 
came to me and asked if I had seen the knives being fixed all day. 
I said 'Yes.' He replied that 'Indians perhaps stab' me, and 'no 
shoot ' me. ' You say Douglass your friend ; we see Douglass when 
come back from the soldiers.' 

" Many of the squaws looked very sorrowful, as if some great 
calamity were about to happen ; others were not kind to me ; and 
Freddie Douglass, the chief's son, whom I had taken into my house 
at the agency and washed, and taught, and doctored, and nursed, and 
made healthy, came to me in my captivity and mocked me worse 
than all the rest. The Douglass blood was in him, and he was bad. 
He said I was a bad squaw and an old white squaw. He tried to 
steal the old wildcat skin that I slept on, and stole my handker- 
chief while I was asleep, and jeered at me during my imprisonment, 

" Douglass returned from fighting the soldiers on Saturday night. 
On the next day his wife went back to the agency for the cabbages 
raised by the cultivation the Indians professed so much to despise. 
Douglass was morose and sullen, and had little to say. He did not 
seem to be satisfied with the military situation, but thought the In- 
dians would annihilate the soldiers. Large numbers of head men 
and captains came to consult Douglass. They were in and out most 
of the night, making speeches and discussing things in general, as 
though the fate of the universe depended on their decision. Doug- 
lass often asked us where the agent was. I said that I did not know. 
Douglass rejoined that neither did he know. Mrs. Douglass treated 
me spitefully, and her chief was not much better, though he gave me 
enough to eat. When he was gone very little was cooked. 

" In a day or two Johnson became very cross, and early one morn- 
ing we began to move again. It was a very long and terrible jour- 
ney that I made that day. I rode a pony with neither saddle nor 
bridle nor stirrups. There was only a tent-cloth strapped on the 
horse's back, and an old halter to guide him with. It was the most 
distressing experience of my life. Not a single halt was made, and 
my pain was so great that the cold drops stood on my forehead. I 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 387 

could only cling to the pony by riding astride. We travelled rapidly 
over mountains so steep that one would find difficulty in walking over 
them on foot. The dust was suffocating, and I had neither water 
nor dinner. Josejihine and Mrs. Price rode ahead. One of the 
mountains was so steep that after making part of the ascent, Doug- 
lass' party had to turn back and go around it. This incident shows 
what hardships delicate women on bareback hcjrses had to endure. 

" We reached a camping-ground half an hour after dark and 
pitched our tents in the valley. The moon was small. I was so faint 
that I could not get off my horse nor move until a kind woman as- 
sisted me to the ground. I was too ill and exhausted to eat, and I 
went to bed without any supper. We stayed at this place several 
days. As the soldiers approached, the Indians moved further south, 
at intervals of two or three days, until they reached the pleasant 
meadows on Plateau Creek, below (jrand River, where General 
Adams found us. Before we reached this last place Douglass per- 
mitted Josephine to come to see me every day, and the long hours 
were more endurable. The courage of the brave girl and her words 
of hope cheered me very much. My life would not have been safe 
had it not been for her influence with the Indians. She could sj:)eak 
some of their language, and she made them cease terrifying me with 
their horrible threats and indecent stories. She finally forced Doug- 
lass to give me a saddle, so that the last days of journeying I had 
something besides a bareback horse to ride upon. It gave me great 
joy on one of the evenings of those terrible first days to hear her, as 
we passed each other in the moonlight, sing out cheerily : ' Keep up 
good courage, mother ; I am all right. We shall not be killed.' 

"The last evenings of our stay were devoted to songs and merry- 
making by those who were not away on the mountains watching the 
soldiers. Mrs. Price joined in some of the choruses, because it 
helped us and made the Indians more lenient. They told a great 
variety of stories, and cracked jokes on each other and on the white 
men. They had dances and medicine festivals. Notwithstanding 
these hilarities, however, the Indians were troubled and anxious 
about the troops. Runners were constantly coming and going. The 
least rumor or movement of the soldiers threw the Indians into a 
flutter. Chief Douglass began to realize the peril of the situation. 
Colorow advised them to go no further south, though the troops were 
moving down from the north. Better fight and defend their camps, 
he said, than retreat. Chief Ouray, the friend of the whites, did not 
want the White River Utes on his domain. Douglass spoke of the 



388 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

agency as gone forever. He said it would have to be built up again. 
The Indians had lost all ; and with a sigh, he exclaimed, * Douglass a 
heap poor man now.' 

"When he had time he fell to abusing the agent, and said that if 
he had kept the troops away there would have been no war. One 
day I was told that a white man named Washington would come 
soon. At last an Uncompahgre Ute came from Chief Ouray and 
spoke very kindly to me, and as he sat by the fire, said, ' To-morrow 
five white men coming and some Indians.' 

" Among them would be ' Chicago man Sherman, a great big 
peace man.' General Adams said they were going to have a talk, 
and the captives would go home. The Uncompahgre said that a 
wagon would be waiting at a certain place below the plateau. 

" Next day we were washmg at the creek, when Chief Johnson 
came and said that a big council was to be held, and that we must 
not come up to the tents until the end of the meeting. Dinner was 
sent us by the squaws, and we began to have hopes of release, after 
being deluded with false predictions many times before. Finally, 
we saw the foremost of the white men on the top of the hill by 
the tent. 

"When I first saw General Adams, I could not say a word, my 
emotion was so great. We had borne insults and threats of death, 
mockery and ridicule, and not one of us had shed a tear ; but the 
sight of General Adams, Captain Cline, Mr. Sherman, and their men 
was too much for me. My gratitude was greater than my speech. 
We owe much to the wife of Johnson. She is Ouray's sister, and, 
like him, she has a kind heart. Ouray had ordered us to be well 
treated, and that we should be allowed to go home. 

" The council was a stormy one. Various opinions prevailed. The 
war-party wanted us held until peace should be made between the In- 
dians and the government. They wanted to set us against the guilty 
murderers, so as to save them through us. After a few hours of vio- 
lent speeches, Mrs. Johnson burst into the lodge in a magnificent 
wrap, and demanded that the captives be set free, war or no war. 
Her brother Ouray had so ordered ; and she took the assembly by 
storm. She told the pathetic story of the captives, and advised the 
Indians to do as Ouray requested, and trust to the mercy of the gov- 
ernment. General Adams said he must have a decision at once, or 
he would have to leave. That settled it, and we were set free. 

" Next morning, when we were about to start for the wagon, which 
was a day's journey to the south, Chief Johnson, who was slightly 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



389 



cool toward us, threw out a poor saddle for me to ride upon. His 
wife Susan caught sight of it, and was furious. She flung it away, 
and went to a pile of saddles, and picked out the best one in the lot. 
She found a good blanket, and gave both to me. Then she turned 
to her chief, and poured out her contempt with such effect that he 
was glad to sneak away. 

" So long as I remember the tears which this good woman shed 
over her children, the words of sympathy which she gave, the kind- 
ness that she continually showed to us, I shall never cease to respect 
her, to bless the goodness of her brother Ouray — the Spanish-speak- 
ing chief of the South. I trust all the good people will remember 
them." 

COLORADO SPRINGS. 



Colorado Springs was settled in 1871 by a colony, after the manner 
of Greeley, on a temperance and Christian basis. It is seventy-five 
miles from Denver, by the Denver & Rio Grande Railway, and con- 
tains a population of over six thousand. 

The first object to awaken the admiration of the tourist, on alighting 

at the station, 
is the unique 
and beautiful 
public house, 
erected at an ex- 
p e n s e of one 
hundred and fif- 
ty thousand dol- 
lars. 

The artistic 
design and har- 
m o n i o u s ap- 
pointments of 
this hotel arrest 

the attention at once. Inside it is as beautiful as it is outside. All 
the furniture is of new designs and of the finest workmanship. 
No two rooms are furnished alike. Altogether, it is a gem of archi- 
tectural beauty. 

The location of the town is delightful, situated as it is at the foot of 
the Rocky Mountains, on a magnificent mesa, spreading out to the east 
in a landscape of enchanting loveliness. Its streets are one hundred 










THE ANTLERS. 




390 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




feet wide, laid out at right angles, and lined with seven thousand cotton- 
wood trees. In the centre is a fine park, and in every direction are de- 
lightful drives for pleasure-seekers and invalids. Hundreds of the 
latter class are included in its population, drawn there in the pursuit 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 39 1 

of health. The city has all the modern improvements, water-works, 
gas, fire department, etc. Drinking-water is brought from the moun- 
tains, pure, sparkling, and delicious. Three banks, two daily papers, 
graded schools, a college, churches of different denominations, several 
hotels and large boarding-houses, the telegraph and telephone, are 
among its live institutions. " Colorado College " is located here, 
its principal building being an imposing structure, built of pink 
volcanic limestone, at an expense of forty thousand dollars. The 
institution is designed to furnish both sexes with the facilities of 
" a higher education." The college is situated on a spot where 
antelopes were feeding and Indians were taking scalps a few years 
ago. 

"The town has twenty-one miles of trees, upon streets a hundred 
feet wide, or avenues of one hundred and forty. Four rows of trees 
upon one street extend two miles. Three private residences, built of 
stone, cost ^80,000; the High School building, $25,000; the Deaf, 
Dumb, and Blind Asylum, $25,000; and the Opera House, $75,000. 
Pike's Peak rises not far off, and smaller mountains plant their feet 
within a mile or two of the town. The unsurpassed splendors of 
of Glen Eyrie, Queen's Canon, the Garden of the Gods, Manitou 
Mineral Springs, Ute Pass, and Cheyenne Canon — all within five 
miles of the town — attract tourists from all the world. Any one of 
these famous resorts would make the fortune of a watering-place in 
the East. Professor Hayden says that he never saw so wonderful 
a combination of grand scenery in the neighborhood of any other 
medical springs." ^ 



THE PACIFIC SLOPE. 

The discovery of gold in 1848 was the making of California. The 
growth and enterprise of its two large cities — San Francisco and 
Sacramento — are indeed marvellous. In less than forty years, the 
population of the former has grown to nearly four hundred thousand, 
and the latter to nearly fifty thousand, the aggregate of their busi- 
ness being almost fabulous. The completion of the Union Pacific 
Railroad established a direct route for travel and commerce, by the 
way of San Francisco, to China, South America, Sandwich Islands, 
Australia, New Zealand, and other countries, so that imports from 
those foreign countries can be transferred from the carrying vessels 

1 Rev. E. P. Tenney. 



392 MAKl'KLS OF THE XFAV WEST: 

to the cars of the racihc Rail\va\-, ami taken through to lioston 
without change. Fifty large steamships now sail from the bay of 
San Francisco to different parts of the world, while hinulreds of sail- 
ing-vessels are kept busy in the mighty commerce which has sprung 
up where forty years ago there was none. 

In art. science, schools, literature, learning, and religion, these 
young cities vie with the most famous cities of the East. A more 
intelligent, enterprising, refined, and prosperous people cannot be 
found on the globe. Their tact, ability, energy, and indomitable 
perseverance are stamped upon their institutions. 

August I, 1867, San Francisco contained a population of 131.000, 
about 40,000 of them being twenty-one years of age and under. The 
number of school children at that time under fifteen years of age was 
34,710. The year ending June 30, 1867, r.050 buildings were erect- 
ed in the city, 340 of which were brick. Cost of improvements for 
the same time was $9,000,000. The sales of real estate for the first 
seven months of 1867 were Si 0,000,000, and $1,000,000 were laid out 
on the streets and highways. 

That the spirit of enterprise had risen to high-water mark at that 
time is manifest from the elegance and cost of some of the public 
buildings erected, as follows : — 

Bank of California, $275,000 ; Mercantile Library, Si 10.000 ; ]\Ier- 
chant's Exchange, $190,000; Oriental Buildings, S 200,000 ; Blond- 
ing and Pringle's Block, $70,000 ; Hayward's Building, S90,ooo ; 
Savings Union Building, $50,000; Trinity Church, S75,ooo; Mur- 
phy, Grant & Co.'s Block, Si 70,000; enlargement and improvement 
of Lick House, $175,000; Dr. Scudder's Church, S64.000 ; Alms- 
house, S60.000 ; additions to Occidental Hotel. S125.000. 

Seven years previous to the aforesaid date, the school population 
increased three hundred per cent in seven years ; and during the 
year mentioned, eight commodious schoolhouses were erected. At 
that time, also, there were Seventy private educational institutions, in 
which there were 4,250 students. That religious instruction kept 
pace with the intellectual, on the whole, appears from the fact that, 
connected with the many churches, were about fifty Protestant Sun- 
day-schools in which nearly seven thousand pupils were taught, and 
more than four thousand in the Catholic and Hebrew schools. The 
Sabbath-school libraries of the city at that time contained })'J,C)2'j 
volumes. 

Their generosity and large-mindcdness appear in their noble plans 
and work for the present and coming generations. Perhaps in no 



MARVJ:LS U/-- AN/7:A'J'A-/.S/' 



393 



way can we exhibit these elements of character so plainly as we can 
by illustrations of their ]jublic wjrks. 

"The State Capitol is one of the first objects which meets the eye 
when approaching Sacramento from the east. It is a conspicuous 
landmark. The buildinj^ occupies the centre of four blocks, bounded 
by Tenth and Twelfth, and by L and N Streets. The grounds form 
three terraces, slightly elevated above each other, and connected by 
easy flights of steps, 'ihey are regularly laid out, and covered with a 



I ^ 




/ 




'^s'^^HSR""-^ 



* -Unitfl r •-:.5,- 



beautiful sward, closely shaven by the lawn-cutter. They are inter- 
planted with shrubs and evergreen trees. The outer border of the 
lowest terrace is studded with flowers. Its front is toward Tenth 
Street, and is three hundred and fifty feet long. Approaching it from 
this point, you may regard it as a great central building, from which 
rises the lofty dome, and having on each side a large wing. A flight of 
granite steps, twenty-five feet high by eighty feet in width, leads to 
a front portico of ten columns, through which, and a large hall, the 



394 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

rotunda of scvcnty-two feet diameter is found in the centre ; and 
from this, in each story, halls, elegantly arched, extend through the 
front and wings, — the state offices being on either side. Five female 
figures ornament the front above the columns. The central one is 
standing ; the remaining four are in sitting postures. They repre- 
sent war, science, agriculture, and mining. The wings, forming the 
flanks of the building, are one hundred and sixty-four feet above the 
first or basement story. The north and south flanks of the building 
form, respectively, the Assembly and Senate Chambers, the former 
being eighty-two by seventy-two feet, and the latter seventy-two by 
sixty-two feet. In the rear centre, a circular projection of sixty feet 
diameter forms the State Library. The first story, of twenty-five feet, 



0% 



m 



^^^^; asSi 



is of white granite, from neighboring quarries, and is surmounted by 
a cornice of the same. Above thi.s, the body of the main dome is 
surrounded by an open balcony, which is supported by twenty-four 
fluted Corinthian columns and an equal number of pilasters. Above 
this balcony, the body of the dome is supported by an equal number 
of ornamental pilasters. From these rises the great metallic dome. 
From the top of this dome, in turn, rise twelve fluted Corinthian pil- 
lars, which support the final or small dome, and this is surmounted 
by the statue of California. 

"The whole interior is one solid mass of iron and masonry. The 
dome of the interior rotunda, which is of iron ornaments and brick- 
work, is exceedingly handsome. The panels and j'jcdestals luidcr the 
windows are of the beautiful laurel, — well known in California for 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



395 



its susceptibility to receive a high poHsh. All the first-floor doors 
are of walnut, with laurel panels ; as are also the sashes throughout 
the building. The stories are, respectively, twenty-one feet six 
inches, tw^enty feet, and eighteen feet in height. It covers, with its 
angles, nearly sixty thousand surface feet of ground, and measures 
over one thousand two hundred lineal feet round in all the angles." ^ 
San Francisco can show a larger number of costly and elegant 
public buildings than most of Eastern cities. Perhaps none of her 







PALACE HOTEL. 



structures, however, awaken the pride of a genuine Franciscan like 
the famous City Hall, which cost five millioti dollars. The illustra- 
tion shows the reader that it was planned on a grand scale, and 
carried to completion in accordance with the highest rules of architec- 
ture. A view of it suggests to the observer, enterprise, foresight, 
public spirit, and generosity on the part of tax-payers, and accommo- 
dation, convenience, utility, and comfort for the busy officials of the 
city government. It is both an ornament and honor to the city. 



396 MARl-ELS OF THE iVKlV IVEST. 

Palace Hotel is the largest hotel in the world. It occupies one 
entire block, three hundred and forty-four by two hundred and sixty- 
five feet. It is seven stories high {one hundred and fifteen feet). It is 
built in the most substantial manner. The foundation-walls are 
twelve feet thick, — all others ranging from one and one-half to four 
and one-half feet in thickness. " The foundation-walls, at their base, 
are built with inverted arches. All exterior, interior, and partition 
walls, at every five feet, commencing from the bottom of the founda- 
tion, are banded together with bars of iron, forming, as it were, a 
perfect iron basket-work, filled in with brick. The quantity of iron 
so used increases in every story towards the roof ; and in the upper 
story the iron-bands are only two feet apart. The roof is of tin, the 
partitions of brick, and the cornice of zinc and iron. Besides the 
city water-works, a supply of water comes from four artesian wells 
of a ten-inch bore, which have a capacity of twenty-eight thousand 
gallons per hour. A reservoir is located under the central court, 
capable of holding six hundred and thirty thousand gallons. On the 
roof are seven tanks, which hold one hundred and twenty-eight thou- 
sand gallons. The hotel is supplied with two steam force-pumps for 
water, two additional for fire, and five elevators." The whole cost of 
the structure was six niillion five Jimidrcd thousand dollars. 

Golden Gate Park is one of the largest and finest parks in the 
world. It contains over a thousand acres, and is laid out in the most 
tasteful and charming manner. The conservatory is an extensive 
and imposing structure, admirably arranged for the purposes for 
which it was reared. Of all the great parks of the world, this is said 
to be the most picturesque and delightful. Its resources for variety 
of arboriculture are many and great. Nearly all semi-tropical fruits 
grow luxuriantly in it, thus affording one of the most interesting 
features possible in a park, — trees and shrubs of many climates 
growing together in wondrous beauty. It is located on the shore 
of the bay, another attraction that challenges description. Tree- 
planting and general improvement is constantly advancing at an 
annual outlay that would make the tax-payers of some eastern cities 
exceedingly nervous. 

San Francisco is noted for its palatial residences. The following 
residence of Charles Crocker is one of the most expensive and attrac- 
tive dwelling-houses in our country. It is large enough and good 
enough for a king. Indeed, a king built it, — one f)f the kings found 
among the sovereign people of America, where all are sovereigns. 
Outside, inside, and surroundings are as complete antl near perfec- 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



397 



tion as money could assure. It is a study in architectural plans and 
finish. 

The Lick Observatory, situated on Mount Hamilton, about fifty 
miles from San Francisco, was the gift of James Lick to the Univer- 
sity of California. The illustration on the opposite page furnishes a 
view of the observatory and the residence of the astronomers. 

Mr. Lick was a singular man, avaricious, selfish, unamiable, and 
eccentric. His final disposition of his estate, amounting to four 
million dollars, was a surprise to everybody. He was the last man 
of whom the public would have expected large bequests ; and the 




RESIDENCE OF CHARLES CROCKER. 



last, too, from whom certain benevolent societies would have ex- 
pected munificent gifts. His most intimate friend would not have 
dreamed that astronomy would receive even a moiety of his estate. 
But this proved to be his pet science, and he bequeathed seven hun- 
dred thousand dollars to this ol^ject. He willed one hundred thou- 
sand dollars to establish "The Old Ladies' Home" at San Francisco ; 
one hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the erection and mainte- 
nance of public baths ; one hundred thousand dollars for a group of 
bronze statuary representing the history of California, to be erected 
at the city hall of San Francisco ; five hundred and forty thousand 
dollars for the establishment of a school of mechanical arts ; with 



398 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



many smaller legacies to individuals and organizations. He must 
have been a patriotic man, for he left sixty thousand dollars for a 
bronze monument to be erected in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 
"to the memory of Francis Scott Key, author of the song, 'The 
Star-Spangled Banner.' " 

A romantic story is told of his early life. He fell in love with a 
miller's daughter, who responded gladly to his attentions at first, but 
her father opjwsed the match. Young Lick was not a favorite of his. 




LICK OBbER 



Finally he relinquished the idea of wooing the maiden, but resolved 
that he would beat the irrepressible miller some day on a mill. That 
was in Fredericksburg, Penn., from which place he drifted away, 
lived for a series of years in Buenos Ayres and Valparaiso, whence 
he removed to California in 1847. There, near San Jose, he erected 
his mill to beat the Penn.sylvania miller. It cost him two hundred 
thousand dollars. It was finished in the most costly California 
woods, highly polished, and was, indeed, the mo.st expensive mill 
ever built. The Pennsylvania miller " had gone before " when the 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 399 

purpose of Lick was accomplished, but the latter enjoyed it all the 
same. 

Mr. Lick selected the spot on which the observatory should stand, 
and it was inaccessible at the time. The United States government 
owned the land, and Congress granted sixteen hundred acres of it 
for the uses of the observatory. The county of Santa Clara, in 
which Mount Hamilton is, fulfilled another condition of Mr. Lick's 
will, and built a road to the summit at an expense of seventy-five 
thousand dollars. This road is twenty miles in length, and is called 
Lick Avenue, one of the finest avenues in all the West. 

The will required for the observatory " a powerful telescope, supe- 
rior to and more powerful than any telescope yet made." Such a 
telescope has been in process of construction, and, at this time of 
writing, is nearly completed. One who has travelled this avenue 
says : " The grade in no place exceeds six feet and three-quarters in 
one hundred feet. There is no part of it where a carriage team can- 
not trot comfortably up the grade." 

Work on the Lick Observatory began July 23, 1880, and a great 
work it was : for every sort of material used, as well as tools, — even 
food and water, — had to be transported to the top of the mountain. 
Subsequently, however, a spring was discovered three hundred and 
ten feet below the summit, and a bed of brick-clay eight hundred feet 
below, all of which were utilized. As soon as possible, a reservoir, 
capable of holding three hundred thousand gallons, was constructed 
on the highest peak, by excavating a solid rock. 

The observatory is two hundred and eighty-seven feet in length, 
— a transit-house, meridian circle, a photo-heliograph and heliostat, 
and a photograph-house. The main building stands nearly due north 
and south, and fronts the west. The location for astronomical pur- 
poses is the best possible. The observatory will be completed some- 
time in 1888. 

California boasts several remarkable health resorts, to which 
thousands of invalids and tourists go. One of these is Monterey, an 
ancient town, built almost entirely of adobe. Monterey early became 
the capital of the Territory ; and many of the governors under Span- 
ish, Mexican, and American rule made it their homes. The town is 
situated upon the slope of a hill overlooking the beautiful bay ; and 
one mile distant, in a magnificent grove, stands the famous Hotel del 
Monte. Its style is Gothic ; and it cost tivo hundred and fifty thou- 
sand dollars. The grounds embrace one hundred and twenty-six 
acres, the most of them laid out in lawns and gardens filled with the 



40O 



MARVELS OF THE NEW II EST. 










rarest flowers. Forty or fifty trained gardeners are kept at work, 
under the directions of Mr. R. Ulrich, beautifying this charming 
park. The bathing-beach is inferior to none in the world ; and, to 
accommodate visitors who need a warmer temperature than the surf 

affords, a luxurious 
swimming-bath has 
been erected, at an 
expense of scvcnty- 
fivc tJioiisaiui dol- 
lars. The hotel 
itself is an artis- 
tic and imposing 
structure, elegant- 
ly furnished, and 
abl)- conducted. 
To supply the ho- 
tel and estate with 
water, Carmcl 
River was tapped, 
a n tl the water 
brought in ]Mpes, 
at an expense of 
more than half a 
million of dollars. 
Since writing 
the foregoing, this 
costly liotel has 
been destro\ed by 
lire, — the work of 
an incendiarw It 
will be rebuilt im- 
mediately, at a cost 
of one hundred and 
fifty thousand dol- 
lars more than the 
structure burned. 
Tassadena is a beautiful location eight miles from Los Angeles. 
It has become a very popular health resort, possessing some charac- 
teristics that do not belong to other resorts of California. Eastern 
people of wealth have gone theie in search of health, and have 
erected fine residences, surroundinu' them with orange trees and the 




ATARI/ ELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



401 



rarest flowers, converting' the place into an earthly paradise. Upon 
the most commanding eminence stands the new hotel, — "The Ray- 
mond," — erected at an expense of tJircc hundred tJionsaud dollars^ 




and opened in November, 1886. The main building is two hundred 
and eighty-seven feet long, facing the south. A veranda, fifteen feet 
wide, extends around nearly the whole structure, affording a contin- 
uous promenade of a quarter of a mile. An elevator runs from the 



402 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



cellar to the observatory. The house is elegant in every particular, 
and is provided with every modern convenience, — gas, telephone, 
telegraph, postal facilities, etc. It is erected by the Raymond Ex- 
cursion Company, whose parties make it their winter quarters ; and 
splendid quarters they are. 

We shall close this third department of our work by calling atten- 
tion to a marvel of a public house in New Mexico. 

Las Vegas Hot Springs derives its name from the town of New 
Mexico, in which it is situated, — a place of eight thousand inhabi- 
tants. The hotel is one of the finest structures of the kind in the 




United States, and takes the jilace of the noted " Montezuma," which 
was burned in January, 1884. It occupies another and more com- 
manding location on the side of the mountain. It is coiistiucted of 
solid stone, and is as nearly as possible fire-proof. It contains three 
hundred rooms furnished in the finest style of which modern art is 
capable, and while varying in style and decoration, one room is about 
as good as another. The ladies' and gentlemen's reception rooms 
are large and elaborately finished in hard woods, and elegantly fur- 
nished. There is a general and beautiful parlor on each floor. The 
carpets were made to order, after original designs, without regard to 
expense, and the window draperies are a superb match for the carpets. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 403 

One angle of the building is ornamented with a tower, from the 
various stories of which the grandest views of nature are taken in. 
Around the front and sides of the building are wide balconies, fur- 
nished with every sort of an easy and invalid chair invented for 
loungers and patients. 

The grounds are ample and beautifully laid out, with the attrac- 
tions of a museum, aviary, zoological collection, green-house, etc. 
Postal, telephone, and telegraphic connection with the outside world 
are complete. 

Invalids, tourists, and pleasure-seekers from all parts of the United 
States, and even from foreign countries, are the patrons of this mag- 
nificent hotel, which is six miles by rail from the centre of the town. 

Such is a bird's-eye view of the almost incredible progress of the 
New West. No " wilderness and solitary place " was ever so speedily 
transformed into a populous and thriving country before. Consult 
the map of the New West as it was, with the " Great American Des- 
ert " stretching hundreds of miles over its vast territory in painful 
desolation ; and contrast it with the map of the New West as it now 
is, interlaced with railway track, peopled by the most adventurous 
and enterprising men and women from every quarter of the globe, 
dotted with populous and wealthy cities that have grown into power 
and beauty as if by magic, commerce appropriating every mountain 
and valley, lake and river to its mighty growth, and Christian civiliza- 
tion crowning the whole with the benediction of Almighty God. 
Such another marvel is not found on the face of the earth, so unique, 
so original, so magnificent. Some one has said that thirty years ago 
a railroad over the Rocky Mountains to the sea was only an idea, 
while the "Great American Desert" was -a. fact ; but now the idea is 
a stubborn fact, and the Desert has ceased to be. Marvellous trans- 
formation ! An empire of magic, bedecked with jewels and crowned 
with gold ! 

Nor can we stop here. Imagination attempts to portray the 
scene when fifty and a hundred years more of progress have passed 
away. When all the public lands are appropriated to the growing 
industries ; when the inventions and discoveries of art and science 
have enabled human enterprise to swell the harvest of precious met- 
als to untold millions ; when a teeming population dots the vast 
domain with towns and cities that surpass their sister municipalities 
of the East in wealth and enterprise, and when learning and religion 
have founded the finest schools and universities, and reared the cost- 
liest temples for the worship of God from the banks of the Missouri 



404 MARVELS OF THE NEW IV EST. 

to the Pacific Slope, then will the dwellers in onr land, and other 
lands, behold here a national growth and consummation without a 
parallel in human history. 

THE MORMON SETTLEMENT. 

Whatever may be said of the immoralities and corruption of the 
Mormon system, as a business enterprise it is conceded to be a 
marvel. The sacrifice, courage, and indomitable spirit incident to a 
journey over the Rocky Mountains to Utah forty years ago, for the 
purpose of colonizing in the "vast wilderness," so remote from civili- 
zation that Gentile interference would be quite impossible, is suffi- 
cient evidence of zeal and daring enterprise. 

Salt Lake City, or " Zion," as the city is called by many Mormons, 
has a population of about thirty thousand. It is a beautiful city, 
handsomely laid out, with wide streets running at right angles and 
lined with thrifty shade trees. Irrigating ditches lend a charm to 
the town, by distributing the clear, pure, sparkling Rocky Mountain 
water through all the streets. Large public buildings and costly busi- 
ness blocks adorn the city, and everywhere there is the appearance 
of thrift and enterprise. 

The illustration on the following page exhibits Assembly Hall 
on the left, the Tabernacle in the centre, and the new, unfinished 
Temple on the right. The Tabernacle is an immense building, two 
hundred and fifty feet long, and one hundred and fifty feet wide. 
The roof is supported by forty-six columns of cut sandstone, and is 
the largest self-sustaining roof in the United States, with the excep- 
tion of the Grand Uni6n Depot of New York. The ceiling of the roof 
is sixty-five feet above the floor. At one end of the building is the 
largest organ in the country, with a single exception. The audience 
room w^ill seat eight thousand people. The Temple is a mammoth 
structure, and, at this time of writing, is nearly completed. It is 
located on the eastern half of the same block with the Tabernacle. 
The dimensions of its foundation are 99x186^ feet. The build- 
ing is two hundred feet long, and one hundred feet wide. The foun- 
dations are laid sixteen feet below the surface of the earth, and are 
sixteen feet in thickness. The walls are nine feet and nine inches 
thick, built of light-gray granite. The three towers on each end 
of the building are very graceful and ornamental, the two central 
ones rising two hundred feet, containing a circular stairway winding 
around a column four feet in diameter. 



MARl'ELS OF KNJ-I:R1'RISE. 



405 



The corner-stone of this bnilchng was laid April 6, i<S53, with the 
expectation that thirty years would be required to complete it. Its cost 
will be n early /f?;//' niil- 
lioii dollars. Like the 
Tabernacle, it is one of 
the most remarkable 
public buildings on 
this continent. 

Mormon business is 
conducted on the co- 
operative plan, — (Mie 
great company lacing 
organized to purchase 
goods in large quanti- 
ties for all the Mor- 
mon settlements. This 
c o m p a n y bears the 
name of " Zion's Co- 
operative Mercantile 
Institution." Its head- 
quarters are in Salt 
Lake City, in an im- 
mense building of 
brick, three hundred 
and eighteen feet long 
by fifty-three feet wide, 
three stories above the 
cellar. An addition to 
this building, twenty- 
five by one hundred 
and ninety-five feet, 
used for a warehouse, 
has been erected at an 
expense of $175,000. 
The business trans- 
acted here annual!}- 
amounts to viillioiis oj 
dollars. 

As an agricultural commuiiiL), the Mormon settlement has proved 
a great success. By means of irrigation, the Mormons have made 
the desert to blossom literally as the rose, — "Jordan Valley" is 




406 MARM-'.LS OF THE r^ElV WEST. 

transformed into a garden of wondrous beauty. Beyond the fondest 
dream of thrift and plenty, a wealth of products rewards the hus- 
bandman for his labors to reclaim these desert lands. 

That such a city and such a people should exist to-day, where, 
forty years ago, for a thousand miles around, there was not a civilized 
abode, is a marvellous fact. Should another forty years achieve an 
equal advance throughout that grand mountain domain, the reality 
will challenge the wonder of mankind. 

RAILROAD KINGS. 

We add to the foregoing marvels of enterprise, the portraits and 
brief biographies of seven Railroad Kings, — public men who have 
contributed largely to the progress of the New West, by constructing 
railroads. Some of these life-sketches are given just as they have 
been published to the world before ; others have been prepared from 
reliable data for this volume. All of them are marked examples of 
industry, perseverance, tact, enterprise, courage, and integrity, which 
the young men of our country may study with profit ; for each one 
of them was "the artificer of his own fortune." 

Mark Hopkins (deceased) should have been included in this list of 
Railroad Kings, and we spared no pains to secure his portrait and 
life-sketch ; and, after all, failed. It is only left for us to say that he 
was a railroad king. 

OAKES AMES. 

Oakes Ames, eldest son of Oliver and Susannah Ames, was born 
in Easton, Dec. lo, 1804. His father removed from Bridgewater to 
Easton in 1803, because the water-power there was better for his 
business, — the manufacture of shovels. He purchased a farm, also, 
on which Oakes worked more or less as soon as he was old enough, 
and that was very early. Subsequently he assisted in the shovel 
factory when he was out of school, as inclined to industry as he was 
to obedience. 

District schools were short and poor, but Oakes got more out of 
them than many boys, on account of his thoughtfulness and applica- 
tion. He went to school to learn — and he learned, as he went into 
the shop to work — and he worked. Until he was sixteen years of 
age, he had no opportunities for education, except what the district 
school furnished. Then he attended Dighton Academy a few 







RAILROAD KINGS. 



408 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

months, as a kind of conclusion to his education, when he entered 
upon his Hfe-pursuit in the shovel factory. 

Oakes was a large, stout boy, full of life and energy, willing and 
ambitious. He progressed rapidly in shovel-making, and soon made 
himself indispensable to his father's business. On reaching his ma- 
jority, or soon after, he became superintendent of the factory, in which 
position he won the confidence and respect of all the employees. 

In 1844, his father became sixty-five years of age, when he with- 
drew from active participation in the business, and the two sons, 
Oakes and Oliver, became the sole managers ; and the firm was 
known as Oliver Ames & Sons. From year to year their business 
extended, until they employed nearly five hundred men ; and one 
thousand tons of iron, two thousand tons of steel, and five thousand 
tons of coal passed annually through their hands, in the manufacture 
of shovels. Their manufactures were always first-class. In every 
market the trade-mark of the company was recognized as the syno- 
nyme of honest and thorough work. A shovel was a shovel, good and 
true. There was no approximation to sham production in the estab- 
lishment. At the dedication of the " Oakes Ames Memorial Hall," 
presented by his sons to the town of Easton, Judge Thomas Russell 
said : — 

"A Boston merchant told me that he made a wagon journey of a 
thousand miles in South Africa, and among all the Boers and Bush- 
men and half-breeds, he never found men so ignorant, or kraals so 
small, that they didn't have and appreciate Ames' shovels. To 
them the mystic letters ' Oliver Ames & Sons ' meant honest mate- 
rials and faithful work. It was more wonderful because they were 
not used to it. From another quarter they receive guns that go off 
at the wrong time and at the wrong place ; rum that will neither 
cheer nor inebriate (that wouldn't trouble any of this family) ; knives 
that will not scalp — no, not even scalp a railroad ticket. It is 
pleasant in this age of shams, to know tliat at the Cape of Good 
Hope, in Australia, in New Zealand, at the ends of the earth, and in 
the farthest islands of the sea, this old Massachusetts brand, — this 
Old Colony brand, — stands all the world over for thorough work, 
tough as ash and true as steel." 

Even his shovels praised him. 

Judge Russell's remark in parenthesis was a tribute paid to the 
temperance principles of the firm, clear back to the father. Oakes 
Ames was a teetotaler, and a most uncompromising foe to the 
saloon. An eye-witness informed us, that, at one time, when he was 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 



409 



a member of the State Department, the officers visited the pubHc in- 
stitutions. At one of them, the superintendent flung open a cupboard 
door, where intoxicating liquors were displayed, and invited the com- 
pany to drink. Oakes Ames was indignant. Instead of accepting 
the invitation, he expressed his surprise that State officers should be 
invited to drink in an almshouse. " Four-fifths of the inmates are 
brought here through drink," he said, "and it is a disgrace and shame 
that liquors are brought in here at all." And he went on, pouring 
out invective upon the curse of strong drink, until the superinten- 
dent hung his head, and the whole company declined his invitation. 
My informant said, that, in consequence, the liquors were all cleaned 
out of the institution. 

In i860, when the country was on the eve of an unparalleled civil 
war, Oakes Ames was elected to a place on the governor's council. 
Every one who knew him, said, "He is just the man for Governor 
Andrew's cabinet." In this way he was introduced into political life. 
The war came on; and Governor Andrew said, "He should be sent 
to Congress, where the wisdom and patriotism of such men are 
needed in this crisis." The voters of the second district thought as 
Governor Andrew did, and, by a triumphant vote, sent him to the 
Thirty-Eighth Congress. For ten years he continued to fill the posi- 
tion with marked ability and fidelity. 

In July, 1862, Congress passed an act authorizing the construction 
of the Union Pacific Railroad. Mr. Ames was deeply interested in 
the project. But capitalists had too little faith in the enterprise ; they 
withheld their capital. Two years later, the whole thing came to a 
stand-still, and was in danger of absolute failure, for the want of 
brains and enterprise. Oakes Ames was besought to interpose and 
save the road. President Lincoln entreated him, members of Con- 
gress urged him, public men, in different parts of the country, im- 
portuned him. Finally, he was fairly persuaded to undertake the 
Herculean task. This was in the autumn of 1865 ; and from the 
moment he consented to prosecute the mammoth enterprise, — 
greater than any American citizen had undertaken before, — the 
anxious public felt assured that the Union Pacific Railroad was 
an established fact. When President Lincoln had signed the con- 
tract for building the road, rising from his seat, and throwing his 
right arm over the broad shoulder of Ames, he said, " Your name, 
Mr. Ames, will live longer in history than mine." 

We have no room to record the labors and sacrifices of Mr. Ames 
in the construction of the road. It was completed in about three 



41 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

years, — seven years less time than the government allowed in its 
contract. General Butler said : " Without him, I am of the confident 
belief that that great link which binds the l^^ast and the West to- 
gether, in the bond which we all trust will never be severed, would 
not have been made in this generation, if at all. . . . With an 
energy never faltering, with a directness never swerving, with a 
faith never failing, he stood behind it, pushing it forward, with the 
belief that it was as necessary for the unification of the country as 
was the successful termination of the war itself." 

Senator Dawes said, in the United States senate-chamber : " I 
have a colleague who has adorned his calling through a long life of 
industry ; who has carried greater loads upon his shoulders, and 
worked out greater problems in the development of the resources of 
the country than any man connected with the material interest or 
enterprise in the whole United States. A grateful nation will yet 
rear his monument, and its inscription will be, The Builder of 
THE Union Pacific Railroad." 

We have no heart to narrate the trials inflicted upon him, by the 
cowardice and corruption of political demagogues, in the name of 
the Credit Mobilier. That record is one of ingratitude and shame 
on the part of truckling politicians, incapable of understanding how 
a statesman can execute a great national trust, in which the real- 
ization of a fortune is possible, and be honest. To cast aspersion upon 
a public man, when, down in their heart of hearts, they believed Oakes 
Ames incapable of dishonesty, is a crime of the darkest hue ; and 
that was the crime of a majority of the members of Congress in 1873. 

A member of Congress said in a speech : " At the hour when 
nearly one-half of this Union was struggling to overthrow the other, 
when the earth resounded to the tramp of armed men in the field, in 
the darkest hour of our fortunes, Oakes Ames came forward, and 
placed down eight hiDidird tJiousand dollars as his subscription, to 
send the railroad across the continent that should hold the East and 
the West together, because he had seen the North and the South 
struggling to separate. 

" I have seen him when bankruptcy and ruin fell upon him, 
because he had taken part in this great national work. I have seen 
him crushed down to earth with obligations and debts not incurred 
for himself, but in the service of his country ; and yet such was the 
force of his honesty and integrity of character, that each and all of 
his creditors gave him extension of credit, and every one has been 
paid to the uttermost farthing. It is to his credit that he had to 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 41 1 

absent himself from your committee while investigating his honesty, 
to go home and do the last act of an honest man, by paying up the 
last dollar of his extended debt. Such is Oakes Ames." 

The sons of Oakes Ames, in their beautiful memorial volume, 
address the reader in the following fitting paragraph : — 

" Have the detractors of Oakes Ames ever asked themselves what 
motive, except public spirit, could have led a man so situated to 
contract to build the road } His own personal interest in the con- 
struction company, in December, 1867, was only one-eighth of the 
whole. By signing the contract, he made the entire risk his own. 
But, in case of profit, seven-eighths of the profit would belong to 
others. Why, except from public spirit, should a man worth millions, 
and secure in the possession of them, have risked all by becoming 
personally responsible, as he did, for the vast sum of forty-seven 
million .-* Why else should he have undertaken to find a market for 
the securities of the road, and to convert them into money with 
which to meet these immense obligations .-' Why else should he 
have given the best years of his life to these colossal cares and 
responsibilities .'' For the prosperity of his country, he risked his 
own fortune and that of his family, and up to this hour his return 
has been, in too many quarters, unmeasured reproach and odium." 

At the dedication of the Oakes Ames Memorial Hall already 
alluded to, the president of the Massachusetts Senate said : " Better 
than these is the consciousness which we have of the worth and 
nobility of character of Oakes Ames. His proudest and most 
perfect monument is in our hearts, in our deep sense of what he 
was. When we think of his massive mould of heart and spirit no 
less than in body, of his strength and simplicity, of his inflexibility 
and patience amid great undertakings and the heaviest difficulties ; 
when we remember the amplitude of the unselfish works accom- 
plished by him for mankind, we say of him : — 

' Such was our friend ; formed on the good old plan, 
A true and brave and downright honest man.' 

Such a monument will indeed endure. Every memento which 
affection can rear may pass away ; the most enduring work of human 
skill to his memory may perish ; from the tablets on the Sierras his 
lineaments will crumble and fade and disappear ; while continually 
in the generations to come, — 

' Death will mould in calm completeness 
The statue of his life.' " 



412 MARVELS OF THE AEir IVEST. 



OLIVER AMES. 

Oliver Ames was a worthy and noble brother of O.akes Ames. 
He was the third son of Hon. Oliver and Susannah Ames, and 
was born at Plymouth, Mass., Nov. 5, 1807. He was seven years 
old when his father removed to Easton,^ where he lived until he 
died, March 3, 1877. He was old enough to render some assist- 
ance in the shovel factory which his father established, so that, from 
the day he became a resident of Easton, his time was divided be- 
tween school and the factory. A busy boyhood and youth was his, 
both from inclination and paternal instruction. His obedience and 
industry left no time for idleness. All his time belonged to study or 
labor. He loved books ; and the schoolroom was always an inviting 
place to him. He loved work, also, and the shovel factory had 
attractions for him. His marked tact and intelligent comprehension 
made him a skilled workman while yet in his youth. Before emerg- 
ing from his teens, he could make, with his own hands, as fine a 
shovel as any workman in the establishment. At the same time, he 
was an extra scholar, and possessed a strong desire for a collegiate 
education. It was not, however, until 1828, after being disabled by 
a serious accident, that he seriously thought of a college course of 
study. It was feared that his injury might prove permanent ; and 
this fact brought the subject of Oliver's liberal education to the 
front. It was discussed at the family fireside, and the final decision 
was that he should go to college. So he entered an academy at 
North Andover, Mass., designing to prepare for college, and finally 
enter the legal profession, for which his friends thought he possessed 
decided talents. 

After eighteen months had elapsed, for sufficient reasons, his 
plans were changed, and he entered the law office of William Baylis, 
risq., of West Bridgewater, as a student. Close application to study, 
together with a constitution that required an active ratlicr than sed- 
entary life, soon told upon his health. Physically he broke down ; 
and, to his very great disappointment, was compelled to relinquish 
the idea of a liberal education. He returned to the shovel factory, 
instead of going to college, and there achieved success, which he 
shared, through his large wealth, with the public. 

He married Sarah, daughter of Hon. Howard Lothrop, of I'^aston, 

' His father had removed from Maston to IMymoutli to start a new enterprise, still con- 
tinuing his business in Easton, to which place he returned in 1814. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 413 

in June, 1833; and, in 1844, he entered into partnership with his 
father and brother Oakes, under the name of " O. Ames & Sons." 
He was a thorough business man, and devoted his energies, with 
unremitting diligence, to the success of their manufactures. At the 
same time, his love of learning did not allow of his divorce from in- 
tellectual culture. Moments that he could snatch from the claims 
of a large and growing business were given to mental improvement. 

He was not over twenty years of age when the temperance cause 
enlisted his sympathies, and he took the ground of total abstinence, 
as a matter of principle. Nor was he any more decided on this ques- 
tion than were his father and brother. All of them saw the curse of 
drink to the laboring class ; and they united their efforts to expel 
intoxicating liquors, not only from the factory, but from the town as 
well. When prohibition came, they were prepared for it, and hailed 
it as the harbinger of thrift and peace to the workingman's home. 
They supported prohibitory legislation, also, as necessary to the 
order and success of a manufacturing town. The repeal of the pro- 
hibitory law, in 1868, and the substitution of a license law, gave them 
an experience out of which, in reply to an inquiry, they made the 
following statement to the public : — 

"We have over four hundred men in our works here. We find 
that the present license law has a very bad effect upon our employ- 
ees. On comparing our production in May and June of this year 
(1868) with that of the corresponding mouths of last year (1867), we 
find that, in 1867, with three hundred and seventy-five men we pro- 
duced eight (8) per cent more goods than we did in the same months 
in 1868 with four hundred men. We attribute this large falling off 
entirely to the repeal of the prohibitory law and the great increase in 
the use of intoxicating liquors among our men in consequence." 

The heart, hand, and purse of Oliver Ames were enlisted in the 
advancement of the temperance cause. Several times we were a wit- 
ness to his annual subscription of one thousand dollars to aid a single 
State temperance society in its noble work. 

He was first a Whig in his political connections, then a Repul^li- 
can, deeply interested in every question pertaining to the abolition of 
slavery and the prosperity of his country. He was a member of the 
State Senate in 1852 and 1857, distinguished for his clear, sharp dis- 
crimination on public questions, and non-partisan spirit. He was 
ready in debate, earnest and direct, and never failed to hold his hear- 
ers to the close. He often spoke in public on political questions of 
the hour ; and few speakers ever carried conviction with more cer- 



414 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

tainty to his hearers than he, although he laid no claim to ora- 
tory. 

In 1855, the O. Ames & Sons built the Easton branch railroad; 
and from that time their attention was called to the railroad as an 
important factor in the development of the resources of our country. 
So that, when the Union Pacific enterprise had come to a stand-still, 
with a fair prospect of its being abandoned, these patriotic and enter- 
prising brothers came to the rescue. We have heard Oliver say that 
when Oakes first disclosed to him his purpose concerning this trans- 
continental railway, he promptly discouraged the undertaking, because 
of the immense business that was already taxing their energies to the 
utmost. But the unselfish and patriotic devotion of his brother to 
the enterprise, and the critical demands of the hour, soon removed 
every objection, and the brothers were one in a settled determination 
to complete the road. From 1866 to March, 1871, Oliver Ames was 
president of the company. Another says: "His sound judgment, 
business capacity, and inflexible honesty were of immense service in 
carrying this great enterprise safely, through difficulty and peril, to 
final success." 

Public confidence in Oliver Ames was unlimited. His wisdom, 
efficiency, and integrity were sought by great enterprises and philan- 
thropic institutions. He was President of the National Bank of 
Easton, the Ames Plow Company, and the Kinsley Iron and Machine 
Company. He was a director, also, in several banks, including the 
Bristol County National Bank. He was a director, too, in the Union 
Pacific, Atlantic and Pacific, Kansas Pacific, Denver Pacific, Colorado 
Central, Old Colony and Newport Railroads, not to mention others. 
These are only a portion of the public trusts which he carried ; for 
the cause of education, philanthropy, and reform, as well as agri- 
cultural, historical, and other societies, were continually taxing his 
attention and benevolence. 

He was a Unitarian in his religious connections, constant in his 
attendance upon public worship, and for several years was a Sunday- 
school superintendent. He built and presented to his church in 
North Easton their beautiful house of worship, also their fine par- 
sonage, correspdnding in architecture witli the church. At his death 
he left a large fund to keep the church and parsonage in repair, and 
another to improve the cemetery. 

The news of his death spread sadness far and wide ; for everybody 
wlio knew him wanted he should live. His simi^licity, generosity, 
and purity of character endeared him to a host of friends in private 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 415 

and public circles. When he died they realized the loss of a great 
benefactor and true friend. 

Rev. L. H. Sheldon, an Orthodox clergyman of the town, preached 
a sermon to young men on the life and character of Mr. Ames, in 
which he held up the good man as a model for them to copy. We 
close this sketch with brief extracts from that noble tribute to the 
memory of an extraordinary man : — 

" In a marked degree has the life of an honored citizen, just now 
closed, by its integrity, its generosity, its wisdom, its enterprise, its 
hearty and enlightened sympathy with the unfortunate of every class, 
and with the friends of education and religion, and by its love of 
truth and virtue and every manly and noble trait, presented to us, 
to the whole community, and to strangers from abroad, its great 
worth while enjoyed, and its great loss when taken. 

"He needs no emblazoned tablet to set forth his virtues or sound 
his praise. Though dead, he lives in the works of national renown 
to which he gave his intellectual energy and his personal supervision ; 
in the hearts of the people among whom he displayed his rare wis- 
dom, his calm judgment, his business thrift, and his unquestioned 
integrity and generosity. Ah, yes ! he still lives, and will live in the 
intelligence and virtue of the children whose minds and hearts shall be 
blessed by his munificent remembrance, as they enter the room for 
mental training ; as they open the word of God in His courts, and 
sing the songs of Zion in the house of religious worship ; or, as with 
solemn tread, they follow the remains of departed loved ones to their 
last resting-place, amid the quiet and the beauty that his own hand 
hath prepared. And once more : he will never die in that cherished 
home which his love, intelligence, and virtue ever adorned, sanctified, 
and sweetened, while the hallowed memories of the past, and the 
varied achievements of the present, remain as the reminders of the 
untold worth of such a character in its influence upon the dawning 
life of the young, to whose hands are committed the great and good 
works still to be sustained and perfected." 

The last words of this beloved man were, " It is all right." 

We only add, from a personal acquaintance with Oakes and Oli- 
ver Ames, we can truly say that no eulogy of such noble charac- 
ters is extravagant. 

The Union Pacific Railroad Company testified to their respect for 
Oakes and Oliver Ames, and their just appreciation of their public 
labors, by erecting a monument to their memory at Sherman. The 
following is an excellent view of it : — 



4i6 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




, -v>j»ii55^' 



MONUMENT IN MEMORY OF OAKES AMES AND OLIVER AMES. 



Erected by the Union Pacific Railway Company at Sherman, Wyoming Territory, — uie riignest point re 
its railroad. Base, 60 feet square. Height, 60 feet. Summit, 8,350 feet above level of the sea. 



highest point reached by 



C. p. HUNTINGTON. 

A Connecticut boy of less than twelve years was employed by a 
neij^dibor to pile a lot of wood. The boy belonged to a family of chil- 
dren as numerous as they were poor, each one. at an early age, com- 



MARVELS OF ENTPZR PRISE. 41 y 

pelled by force of circumstances to shift for himself. This was the 
lad's first job of any account. The wood was piled neatly in the 
shed, the chips feathered up, and the [ground swept with an old 
broom, so that the proprietor exclaimed, when he saw the thorout^h- 
ness of the boy's work : " Neat as a pin ! Here's a dollar for you ; 
and I think you must have the job next year." It was the annual 
winter's stock of wood the boy had put under cover. 

He was delic:;hted both with the dollar and with the praise ; but 
on reaching home, he said to his mother, who was delighted with his 
success : — 

" My feelings were divided between the dollar and contempt for 
the man, who thinks I shall be doing nothing better one year from 
now." 

Not long thereafter this high-minded lad was ousted from the 
family nest by stress of circumstances, and went forth into the great 
world for his living. A checkered experience was his for a series of 
years, when we discover him running a hardware store in the young 
and far-off city of Sacramento. The sign over the store is Huntiug- 
ton & Hopkins. The former is the Connecticut boy who piled the 
wood ; the latter was an equally aspiring Massachusetts boy grown 
into a man. They kept the best goods made, and sold them at a fair 
price. Principle governed their traffic in hardware. Their store 
was at No. 54 K Street. 

Here Leland Stanford, a wholesale grocer, and the two Crocker 
Brothers, dry-goods dealers, often came to enjoy the company of the 
two congenial spirits in the hardware business. They discussed the 
"topics of the times," especially the needs and prospects of Cali- 
fornia. All of them were Republicans, which stood for more than 
almost any one dreamed of in i860, the time of which we are speak- 
ing. Their store became the headquarters of Republicans, who often 
spent their evenings there, discussing the future prospects of the 
country. 

"A Pacific railroad is the great need of California," said Hunting- 
ton, "and, in my opinion, it is practicable." He had often expressed 
the same opinion to his partner. There were no dissenting voices in 
that group. Indeed, all the more intelligent and enterprising citi- 
zens of California believed in a Pacific railroad. They had succeeded 
in bringing the subject before Congress, though with no prospect of 
immediate success. 

Just then there came a man to Sacramento by the name of Judah, 
to build the little " Sacramento Valley Railroad." He, too, became 



4l8 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

enthused with Huntington's spirit for a railway over the Sierra 
Nevadas ; and he borrowed money to defray the expenses for explor- 
ing for a pass. Again and again the frequenters at No. 54 K Street 
contributed to aid Judah in his engineering, with no definite and 
encouraging results. Huntington refused to give any more money 
for what seemed to him a profitless work ; and he proposed a meeting 
at Stanford's house, and the five leading spirits were there, — Hunt- 
ington, Hopkins, Stanford, and the Crocker Brothers. Two others 
were there, — Judah, who died soon after, and another citizen, who 
dropped out of the circle. The five named above became the origi- 
nators of the Central Pacific Railroad. 

"I will be one of ten or eight," said Huntington, "to assume all 
the expense of making a thorough survey, if Hopkins is willing." 

Hopkins was willing, and so were the others ; and, after canvass- 
ing the subject thoroughly, it was decided to organize the Central 
Pacific Railroad Company. Leland Stanford was made president, C. 
P. Huntington vice-president, and Mark Hopkins secretary and 
treasurer. These are the officers to-day, except that Hopkins is 
dead. It is the only railroad in this country that has not slipped out 
of the hands of its originators in a very short time. But the boy who 
expected to do something larger and better than piling wood a year 
hence, still keeps a firm grip on this world-renowned railway, whose 
bonds are as good in Europe now as those of the United States 
government. 

"We will pay as we go," said Huntington. "Never run a dollar 
in debt. If we can't pay a hundred workmen, we will pay fifty ; if 
we can't pay fifty, we will pay ten ; if we can't pay ten, we will pay 
one. We will employ no more men than we can pay." In that way 
the road was built. 

When the time came for depot headquarters at Sacramento, the 
engineer was asked to draft a plan. When his plan was presented 
to Huntington, the latter examined it carefully, and inquired : — 

"The cost } " 

"About twelve thousand dollars." 

"Very nice plan," Huntington added dryly; "but our business 
is rather too small to warrant such an expense now. I think such a 
building as this will answer our purpose for the present " ; and, suit- 
ing his action to the word, he drew a plan upon the store-door with 
chalk ; and his plan was adopted. It was a board building, put up in 
a single day, at an exjjcnse of one hundred and fifty dollars.^ 

^ .Sec page 269. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 419 

The times that try men's "souls" came pretty often to Hunting- 
ton and his associates. He obtained government aid and State aid, 
it is true, but there were so many conditions interposed that trials 
multiplied. On returning from New York, at one time, he found the 
treasury exhausted ; whereupon he called together his associates, and 
the immortal five agreed to keep eight hundred men at work for one 
year at their own individual expense ! 



CHARLES CROCKER. 

Charles Crocker was born in the city of Troy, N.Y., Sept. 16, 
1822. All the schooling he ever enjoyed was in that city before he 
was twelve years of age. His parents were in straitened circum- 
stances, so that, at about the age of twelve, Charles began the life of 
a newsboy, and earned his own living at that business. 

In 1836, when Charles was fourteen years of age, his father 
removed to Northern Indiana, and settled upon government land. 
Northern Indiana was a wilderness at that time, and the home of 
Charles was a log cabin. " Clearing the land " was the first work 
to be done preparatory to farming, and it was new business for 
Charles ; but he engaged in it with that spirit and enterprise which 
have characterized him ever since. 

His mother died in September, 1839, when he was seventeen 
years of age, leaving his home desolate indeed. The following 
winter a disagreement arose between him and his father, and the 
latter resorted to the extreme measure of turning him out of doors, 
and bidding him leave. It was in February, and two feet of snow 
covered the ground, when he turned his back upon his father's cabin 
to face the world. His father meant it for severe punishment, but 
it turned out to be his first step on the road to fortune. He was 
now just eighteen years of age, and his worldly possessions, on 
leaving home, consisted of a cotton shirt, a linen "dickey," a pair of 
socks, and a cotton handkerchief in which the other articles were 
wrapped. He had not one cent of money with which to begin life 
for himself, and no j)rospect of having any until he earned it. 

His way was through the wilderness ; and after the first night 
had set in he reached a farmhouse, the proprietor of which was in 
the barnyard with a lantern, feeding his cattle. Charles approached 
him and inquired : — 

" Are you in want of help .-^ " 



420 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

"Well," replied the farmer, "that is a want I usually have. You 
want a place ? " 

"Yes, sir; that is what I am looking for." 

"You are able-bodied," continued the farmer, "and I should 
think might be a good worker. I will hire you on trial for a 
month." 

" Agreed," responded Charles, rejoiced to find a situation so 
readily. 

At the end of the month, Charles inquired of his employer if he 
wanted him any longer. 

" Certainly I do," answered the farmer. 

"At what wages.'*" continued Charles. 

" For as much as any man in the country gets," was the farmer's 
hearty response. 

This was a fine compliment to Charles, and speaks well both for 
the quantity and quality of his work. He continued to work for the 
farmer until the following September, when, for sufficient reasons, 
he went to work for John J. Deming in a saw-mill at Mishawaka, 
Ind. 

While working in the saw-mill, he realized that he needed a better 
education ; so the next winter he quit work and attended school, 
paying his board to the pastor of the Presbyterian Church by doing 
chores. In the spring he went to work for Alphonso Wilson in his 
iron foundry. Here his services were so efficient that Mr. Wilson 
soon learned to trust him with any part of his business. He was so 
apt to acquire methods of doing business, the nature and quality of 
materials, and whatever pertained to work in the foundry, that his 
services became indispensable to his employer, and he continued to 
serve him four or five years. Then he prospected for iron ore in 
Marshall County, and was successful. He discovered a rich mine, 
and Mr. Wilson furnished capital to run it. The agreement between 
them made Charles the sole manager, on a salary of five hundred 
dollars, and a quarter share of the entire interest, Mr. Wilson erect- 
ing a forge there, and paying for half the land. The firm was known 
as Charles Crocker & Co. Thus, in six years from the time his 
father turned him out of doors, he was the proprietor of a prosperous 
business, and at the same time commanded the confidence of the 
public. He continued in this business until 1848, when the gold 
excitement of California led him to sell out to Mr. Wilson. Before 
the jKipers were passed, however, the forge was burned to the 
ground. This calamity did not dishearten, but only delayed him. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 42 1 

He returned to the scene of the disaster, cleared away the ruins, and 
built another forge thereon. Then he made another sale to Mr. Wil- 
son, accepting two thousand dollars in cash for his part, and at once 
started with a company of young men he organized, one of wlioni was 
his brother, for California. The fire and subsequent labors had delayed 
him a full year, but on July 10, 1850, he reached Sacramento. They 
repaired immediately to the mines where they toiled without success 
for several months. Then Charles decided to engage in the store 
business at the mines, but soon removed to Sacramento, where, with 
his brother as partner, he entered upon a career that " led on to 
fortune." 

In October, 1852, he returned to Indiana, and married the daugh- 
ter of John J. Deming, in whose saw-mill he worked so long. One 
week after his marriage, he received a message announcing the 
burning of his store in Sacramento, and the total loss of all his 
goods, the value of which was eighty thousand dollars. This calamity 
left him even poorer than he was when he went to California ; but 
his pluck and perseverance were left. He started immediately for 
Sacramento with his wife, resolved to start business anew on arriving 
there. His purpose was promptly executed, and just as he was on 
the high tide of prosperity, a few months thereafter, the city was 
burned, and then it was overflowed with water to the depth of four 
or five feet. But his pluck was neither burned nor drowned, and he 
started out again, charged with energy, tact, and hope, and in less 
than two years he possessed other thousands. 

In 1855 he was a member of the Common Council of Sacramento, 
and introduced several important and necessary reforms. In i860 he 
represented the city in the State Legislature ; and it was at this time 
that he united with C. P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, and Mark 
Hopkins in the Central Pacific Railroad enterprise. Having spoken of 
this in the sketch of Mr. Huntington's life, we need not repeat it here. 
It is suf^cient to say that, after the action of Congress organizing the 
Union Pacific Railroad, Mr. Crocker took the first eighteen miles of 
the Central Pacific to build ; and he built it, of course. He not only 
built that, but he also built other portions of the road which other 
contractors had failed to complete. He organized the " Contract and 
Finance Committee," and was elected president of the same ; and 
under his superintendence, the Central Pacific Railroad was pushed 
through to Ogden. He built, also, nearly all the local railroads 
tributary to the Central Pacific within the limits of California. 

It is generally conceded that the Central Pacific Railroad was 



422 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

the most gigantic railroad operation in tlie vviiole world, when the 
tremendous difficulties to be surmounted are considered ; and it has 
been the grandest success of all. The action of Congress to assist 
the road was hampered by the provision that fifty miles should be 
built and equipped with rolling stock, before Congressional aid could 
be available. The enterprise would have succumbed at this point, 
but for the courage and liberality of Crocker and his three associates 
named ; for it required iivcuty Diillioii dollars to construct the first 
hundred miles. Of this amount the government subsidy only sup- 
plied five millions, and Crocker and his associates were obliged to 
supply the remaining fifteen milliojis. Add to this the tremendous 
engineering obstacles to the construction of the road, and the reader 
can judge of the spirit, tact, and determination equal to the task. 

In 1 87 1 Mr. Crocker was elected president of the Southern 
Pacific Railroad, the capital of which was increased, under his admin- 
istration, in 1884, to one Inindred millions, and was reorganized with 
the control of four thousand six hundred and ninety-eight miles of 
railroad and four thousand two hundred and five miles of steam- 
ship lines, almost nine thousand miles in all. The lease of the 
Central Pacific was included in this vast interest. In addition, there 
are the Southern Pacific Companies of California, Arizona, and New 
Mexico, Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad and Steamship 
Company, Galveston Harbor and San Antonio Railway, Texas and 
New Orleans Railroad Company, Louisiana Western Railroad Com- 
pany, and the Mexican International Railroad Company ; all these 
are included in the colossal Southern Pacific Company, of which 
Charles Crocker is the animating spirit. The gross earnings of this 
company in eight months of 1885, was $19,645,892.91, and, after 
paying all expenses, interest, and rentals, the net surjilus was 
^1,509.753,64. 

This brief and imperfect sketch gives only a glimpse of a very 
remarkable life, the marvellous ]:)art of which was crowded into 
thirty years. The youth who went out into the world without otic 
cent in his pocket in 1840, was a millionnaire in 1870, in spite of 
fire and flood; and, in 1887, he presented to his daughter, on her 
wedding day, a costly residence in New York City, and a check for 
o)ie million dollars. 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 423 



LELAND STANFORD. 



Ex-Governor Leland Stanford, of California, was born in the town 
of Watervliet, Albany County, N.Y., March 9, 1824. His father was a 
farmer of an enterprising turn, sound integrity, and of unblemished 
character. His mother was an intelligent and noble woman, — a very 
suitable helpmeet for her industrious and aspiring husband. Their 
family consisted of seven sons and one daughter. Leland was the fourth 
son, fond of books and reading, full of spirit and ho])e, and more of 
a scholar than either of his brothers. Schools were of inferior grade 
compared with schools of to-day ; but such as they were he enjoyed 
and got more out of them than most of the boys in the district. He 
loved his books better than farming, although he followed the latter 
with considerable enterprise. He had his daily tasks to perform on 
the farm as soon as he was old enough to work, and these he accom- 
plished with unusual tact and despatch. Little grass grew under his 
feet, bright and lively as he was ; and he seemed born to activity and 
success. 

Until twenty years of age, Leland's time was divided between the 
school and farm, and then he commenced the study of law. In 
1845, he entered the law office of Wheaton, Doolittle & Hadley, in 
Albany, N.Y. His heart was set on becoming a lawyer, so that he 
improved his opportunities as one who realized that he had no time 
to waste on trifles. On completing his studies, the great West 
opened its arms to him, as he thought. The profession was crowded 
in New York, but there was ample room in the West. He put out 
his shingle first in his native state ; but the chance for a young man 
was comparatively small, and he soon resolved to adopt Horace 
Greeley's advice, — "Go West, young man!" He packed up his 
wardrobe, books, and what not, and off he started for Port Washing- 
ton, Wis. This was in 1849, when Port Washington was on the 
frontier. Wisconsin was a part of the "far West" at that time, 
— about as distant as young men aspired to go, except those who 
responded to the cry of gold ! gold ! on the Pacific Coast. Only one 
year before, gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill in California, and 
there was great excitement in the land over the discovery. But 
Leland Stanford was not carried away by the gold mania. He 
wanted to practise law ; and a new, thriving, growing town in Wis- 
consin was a better place for that business than California. He was 
well pleased with his new home, and found no difficulty in working 
up a fair business. He was popular, and honored by all who knew 



424 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

him. The girls especially regarded him as about the most fasci- 
nating and promising young man they ever met ; and one of the num- 
ber, Miss Jane Lathrop, decided to unite her fortunes with his, and 
in 1850 they were married. A good choice, a good start, and a 
noble purpose, combined to make him successful. 

But the gold-find in California was calling tens of thousands of 
people to that El Dorado, and new towns and cities were springing 
up like magic. He saw a new and brighter opening there, and 
resolved at once to make the most of his opportunity. Some of his 
best friends were going thither, too, and here was another induce- 
ment, to keep them company. He settled up his business, packed 
his effects, and started for Sacramento, where he landed July 12, 
1852. Wasting no time in deciding whether he should practise law 
or delve for gold, he left Sacramento for the mines at Michigan Bluff, 
on the American River, Placer County. It proved that he was 
exceedingly fortunate in selecting a place for mining, for he stepped 
right into success with scarcely an introduction. Not only wealth, 
but popularity, flowed in upon him, to his surprise. His ability, tact, 
enterprise, and real worth, won him friends on every hand. His 
public spirit, as well as his fearless advocacy of Republican prin- 
ciples, pushed him to the front. In 1859 the Republican party 
nominated him for State Treasurer, but the Democratic candidate 
defeated him. The Democratic party had never been beaten at that 
time ; and it was reserved for Leland Stanford to accomplish this 
feat in 1861, when the Republicans nominated him for governor, and 
he was elected by a plurality of twenty-three thousand \-otes. He 
became the most popular governor that California had ever had, 
and was respected and honored by all classes. 

About this time he became interested in the Central Pacific Rail- 
road, as we have seen. In T'eb. 22 of that year, — Washington's 
birthday, — he threw the first shovelful of dirt in the construction of 
that road ; and on May 10, 1869, he drove the last spike at Promon- 
tory Point, Utah, where the Central and Union Pacific united their 
destinies in a grand transcontinental line. 

.Since that time Mr. Stanford has been prominent in the histor)- of 
our country, not only as one of its wealthiest, but one of its most 
remarkable men. His wealth is counted by tens of millions, and 
both in his State and nation he is a man of influence and power. 
He has not only served his State, but his nation, also, in Congress. 
In every position, he has proved himself efficient and true, worthy of 
the confidence of his countrymen. He has recently given to the 



MARVELS OF ENTERPRISE. 425 

State of California tzvcnty million dollars to establish and support a 
university at Palo Alto. The purpose of the university is stated in 
his own words, as follows : — ■ 

"I intend that the Stanford University shall not only give cnc a 
classical education, but that under its roof one may learn telegraphy, 
type-setting, type-writing, journalism, book-keeping, farming, civil 
engineering, etc. For a number of years prior to its inception, 
young men, graduates of Harvard, Yale, and other Eastern colleges, 
used to call upon me, bearing letters of introduction, and asking me 
to find employment for them. I would learn on examination that, 
while their knowledge of Greek and Latin, logic and metaphysics, 
might be thorough, they were actually helpless so far as practical 
knowledge went. They were willing to learn, it is true ; but the 
world is full of unskilled labor, and so I was forced to put them on 
the railroad as conductors, brakemen, and firemen, in order' that they 
might become self-supporting. I then conceived the idea of a univer- 
sity from which young men could graduate fully equipped for the 
battle of life, in whatever direction the taste might run." 

Including his estate at Palo Alto, his munificent gift will amount 
to tiocnty-fivc viillion dollars. The corner-stone of the university 
was laid on May 14, 1887, which was the nineteenth birthday of Mr. 
Stanford's son ; and the various structures will be so far advanced 
by January, 1889, as to accommodate several hundred students. 



SIDNEY DILLON. 

Sidney Dillon was president of the Union Pacific Railroad several 
years, a representative man, whose life has been identified with large 
public works. He was born in Northampton, Montgomery County, 
N.Y., May 7, 18 12, seventy-five years ago. His father was a farmer 
in good circumstances, and of decided influence in his town. His 
grandfather was ditto, a Christian man of unblemished character, as 
patriotic as he was industrious, for he was a brave soldier of the 
American revolution. The mother and grandmother were women of 
intelligence and great worth, who left their impress upon their 
posterity. 

Sidney took his turn on the farm, and proved himself competent 
even in his boyhood. His father and mother set a high value upon 
the education which even the poor schools of that day afforded, and 
provided him with every opportunity possible. But out of school he 
was expected to work ; nor was he at all disinclined to labor on the 



426 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

farm; for he had "a heart for any work." His ambition, however, 
looked beyond the farm. His enterprising spirit soared higher ; and 
when he was not more than fifteen or sixteen years of age he became 
an errand boy on the Mohawk and Hudson Raih'oad. This was the 
first raih'oad constructed in the State of New York. It run from 
Alban}- to Schenectady. Sidney was greatly pleased witli his new 
business, and the business was pleased with him. His pay was 
small ; but it was a good school for him ; and he so regarded it. His 
sharp observation enabled him to learn many things outside of his 
daily routine of duties. This quality developed him rapidly, so that 
he was fitted for a higher position while he served as errand boy. 
Hence we find him within two or three years in a more responsible 
position on the Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad. Here the same 
attention to business, and the same efficiency in doing it, character- 
ized him. In consequence, the attention of a railroad contractor was 
directed to him, and he hired him to oversee a section of the Boston 
and Providence Railroad, which he was to build. He proved himself 
to be so efficient here that he was subsequently employed to oversee 
the execution of contracts upon other railroads. 

In 1838 he himself became a contractor, undertaking a job which 
lasted nearly two years. He did well for himself in this, and well 
for the company. From that time he was not under the necessity of 
seeking contract.s, for contracts .sought him. He built two miles of 
the Troy and Schenectady Railroad, twenty-six miles of the Hartford 
and Springfield, six miles of the Cheshire, and ten miles of the 
Vermont and Massachusetts. And here is only a part of his railroad 
work; for he assisted the construction of the Rutland and Burlington ; 
Central of New Jersey ; the Morris Canal ; the Boston and New York 
Central ; the Thiladclphia and ICrie ; the Erie and Cleveland ; the 
Morris and Essex ; the Boston, Hartford, and Erie ; the Iowa ; the 
New Orleans, Mobile, and Chattanooga ; the Canada Southern ; the 
Union Pacific ; and how many more he only knows. What he had 
accomplished only sharpened his appetite for greater achievements ; 
for then he contracted for the " Fourth Avenue Improvement," 
New York, which involved $7,000,000. This was a work of such 
magnitude that few contractors could undertake it. But it was 
easier for him than a game of chess. It was a great job ; but he was 
greater than the job. ilic work was done, and well done, under his 
faithful administration. The foregoing experience had just fitted 
him to be president of the Union Pacific Railroatl, which office he 
filled as well as he had all inferior ones. It is claimed that he has 



MAIil'ELS OF ENTERPRISE. 427 

been engaged in over forty of the great public works of our country, 
and that his contracts have amounted to one hundred million dol- 
lars. 



DAVID H. MOFFAT. 

David H. Moffat, of Denver, Colorado, was born at Washington- 
ville. Orange County, N.Y., in the year 1839. When fifteen years 
old, he went to New York, and commenced his business career as a 
messenger boy in the New York Exchange Bank. After working 
in that capacity for one year, he went West, and took a position as 
clerk in the banking house of A. J. Stevens & Co., of Des Moines, 
Iowa. Remaining with them a short time, he was offered a better 
place with the Bank of Nebraska, at Omaha, which he accepted, and 
was finally appointed cashier. After filling that office for four years, 
with credit to himself and profit to the bank, he wound up the busi- 
ness, paying all indebtedness in full and a handsome dividend to the 
stockholders. At that tim.e (i860) the Pike's Peak fever was raging, 
and Mr. Moffat bought some mules and a wagon, joined a company 
organized in Omaha, and went with them across the plains to seek 
his fortune in the new El Dorado. This was before the days of rail- 
roads, and he experienced all the hardships and suffering attending 
a journey^ where the road was infested with hostile Indians, and 
lined with the graves of their victims and men who had succumbed 
to exposure and starvation. 

Arriving in Denver, when it consisted solely of a camp of gold 
prospectors located on the banks of the Platte, in company with 
C. C. W'oolworth, of New York, he started a book and stationery 
store, which he ran for six years, and established a large and profit- 
able business. He retired from this in 1866, to take the position of 
cashier of the P^irst National Bank of Denver. In 1881 he was 
elected president, and has been closely identified with that institu- 
tion up to the present time, and his administrative ability has made 
it the strongest and most conservative national bank between 
Chicago and San Francisco. It has a capital and surplus of five 
hundred thousand dollars, and three million dollars of deposits. 

He became largely interested in mining in Leadville, in 1878, by 
purchasing an interest in the famous " Little Pittsburg," with the 
late Hon. J. B. Chaffee. The next year they bought H. A. W. 
Tabor's interest in said mine, — an enterprise that proved financially 
a great success. 



'428 MARl'ELS OF THE NEW 1 1 EST. 

But Mr. Moffat's forte lies in another direction— railroading. At 
the present time he holds the presidency of the Denver and Rio 
Grande Railroad, to which office he was elected in 1884. He has 
been prominently connected with all the leading railroad enterprises 
of Colorado. In 1869, together with Governor Evans, he built the 
Denver Pacific from Cheyenne to Denver, without which Denver 
would have lost its supremacy, and its business would have centred 
at Che}'enne. He, with others, organized the syndicate of Denver cap- 
italists, who built the Denver and South Park Railroad to Leadville, 
which at one time was the best paying railroad in the world. He 
also furnished a large amount of capital to build the Denver and New 
Orleans Railroad, which will ultimately give Denver a through line 
to New Orleans. While Mr. Moffat has amassed a large fortune en- 
tirely through his own efforts, having started in life a poor boy 
without a dollar, he has always extended a helping hand to others. 
The present unexampled growth and prosperity of Denver and Colo- 
rado is largely owing to his public spirit and enterprise. 

In spite of his wonderful business career, which would have worn 
out many men, he is comparatively a young man, being but forty- 
eight years of age, — an early age for the many prominent positions 
he has held in the leading railroad and financial institutions of the 
West. Should he live twenty years longer, and retain the same 
business capacity and energy of his past life, his fortune and influ- 
ence will not be excelled by any of the railroad magnates of the 
country. 



IV. MARVELS OF MINING. 



THE discovery of gold in the New West, in 1848, came about in 
this way. John A. Sutter, a Swede, drifted to this country, and 
settled in California in 1839. He was a very enterprising, industri- 
ous, and successful pioneer ; and, in 1848, he was the owner of a fiour 
mill, saw-mill, tannery, and a large tract of land on which his many 
thousand cattle, horses, and sheep grazed. 

In his employ was one James W. Marshall, in whose imagination 
floated visions of gold. He believed that there was a plenty of it in 
that country waiting to be discovered. He was a mechanic, and built 
Sutter's saw-mill, which commenced running in January, 1848. On 
the second day of February Marshall shut the water off, when he dis- 
covered particles of shining dust in the race-way. "Gold! gold!" 
he said within himself under great excitement, and at once instituted 
an examination, the result of which was an ounce of gold piclced up 
in the race-way and dug from the crevices of rocks. He was almost 
beside himself with excitement. Mounting a horse, he dashed away 
to re])ort to Captain Sutter, who was at his home-fort, forty miles 
distant. It was late in the evening when he reached the fort, and 
rain was descending in torrents. 

Leaping from his horse, he said to Captain Sutter, hurriedly and 
excitedly, • — 

"Captain, I want to see you alone." 

Sutter conckictcd him mto a vacant apartment, and closed the 
door. 

"Are you sure no one will intrude.^ Lock the door," continued 
Marshall, so excited as to awaken Sutter's suspicion that he was 
crazy. 

Sutter locked the door, and assured his friend that no one could 
hear or see them. 

Stepping up to the table, Marshall poured from a pouch his ounce 
of gold. 

" Gold ! gold ! That is gold ! " he exclaimed, scarcely realizing 
whether he was in the flesh or out. 



430 MAR\-ELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

" Where did you get that ? " inquired Sutter. 

Marshall rehearsed the events of the day, and his discovery of 
gold in the race-way, enjoining profound secrecy upon the captain. 

" But you do not know that it is gold," suggested Sutter. •* I have 
my doubts about it." 

After some discussion, however. Captain Sutter settled the matter 
by the application of aqua fortis. The test showed it to be gold. 

Now IMarshall's excitement reached its climax, and in vain did 
Captain Sutter entreat him to sto]-) t)ver night. He must return 
immediately, and insisted that Sutter shoukl accompany him. The 
latter peremptorily declined to go with him in the driving rain, but 
promised to go in the morning. Marshall started back, and Sutter 
went to bed, though not to sleep. 

Early in the morning, the storm having passed away, Captain 
Sutter hurried away to the mill-race. When within ten miles of it, 
he met Marshall on foot. 

"That you, Marshall.^" exclaimed Sutter. "What are you here 
for.^" 

" I was so impatient to see you that I walked this distance to meet 
you," — a reph' which showed how great was the excitement under 
which he was laboring. 

On arriving at the mill-race, they found all the men engaged in 
gathering gold. Realizing that the gold-hnd might create so much 
excitement as to compel the stoppage of his flour and saw mills and 
tannery, as well as all labor upon his immense ranch, he called the 
men together, and exacted a promise of secrecy for six weeks, during 
which time they should faithfully attend to their labors in the mills. 
tannery, and on the farm. ]>ut such a secret could not be ke[it. In 
a few days the news was on the wings of the wind, and the rush to 
this Eldorado was without a parallel. Sutter's men forsook his mills 
and ranch to search for gold ; and all his interests were left to 
neglect and ruin. Gold-seekers struck anywhere upon his ranch 
they pleased, and it was almost literally dug up. Without leave or 
license, they appropriated any part of his wide domain to their own 
use. They even stole, killed, and ate his flocks and herds, helped 
themselves to his large crops of wheat, corn, and potatoes, spoiled his 
fur trade with the Indians, and his hide and leather traffic with the 
East, and left everything a wreck. Sutter was forcet,! to resort to 
the law to re-establish his claims, in which litigation he spent his 
last dollar, and finally, after some years of hard struggle with 
poverty, he tlied. 



MARVELS OF MlNfNG. 43 1 

' Marshall was no more fortunate. He gathered some gold, but it 
slipped out of his hands, so that, in the end, he derix'ed no pecuniary 
profit from his valuable discovery. Hence it has been said, that the 
discovery of gold on the Pacific Slope ruined both the discoverer 
and the owner of the land on which it was found. 

General Sutter, whose name the mill bears, settled here over fifty 
years ago, under a grant from the Russian go\-ernment. That grant 
conveyed to him large tracts of land, including the site of Sacramento, 
of which Sutter's Mill, or Hocir I^'ak.m, as it was called, was a ])art. 
Of course, he was really a rich man ; but swindlers made him a poor 
one, and he died a i)auper. Mr. Charles Nordhoff visited the place 
in 1873, and speaks thus of it : " ^'ou may still see his grove of fig- 
trees, under whose shade the countiy people now hold their picnics ; 
his orchards, which still bear fruit ; and his house, which is ncuv a 
country tavern. Of all his many leagues of land, the old man has 
but a few acres left ; and of the thousands who now own ami inhabit 
what once was his, not a dozen would recognize him, and many scarce- 
ly know his name. His riches melted away as did those of the great 
Spanish proprietors ; and he who only a quarter of a century ago 
owned a territory larger than some of the States, and counted his 
cattle by the thousands, — if, indeed, he ever counted them, — who 
lived in a fort, like a European noble of the feudal times, had an 
army of Indians at his command, and occasionally made war ui)on 
the predatory tribes who were his neighb(M-s, now lives upon a small 
annuity granted by the State of California." 

Five thousand men were at work in the mines before the close of 
the year i84<S, and the product of their labor was five iiiillion dollars, 
an average of one thousand dollars to a man. There were about two 
thousand men living in San Francisco in January, 1848, all but five 
of whom left for the gold-field. 

No doubt there was much exaggeration in regard to the richness 
of the mines ; at any rate, many adventurers risked life itself to 
reach the land of gold, expecting to fill their pockets daily with the 
precious metal. And yet, the real facts in the case were marvellous. 
Gold was found in so large quantities, that the five thousand seekers 
in '48 believed there was enough for every man who might come. 
Two ounces per day was but an ordinary yield for each man, and 
many did much better than that. As the value of gold was twel\-e 
dollars per ounce in cash and sixteen dollars in trade, their hard 
labor was very remunerative. Colonel Mason, who made an exami- 
nation of the mines for the government, confirmed, in his official 



432 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




SUTTER'S MILL. 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



433 



report, their reputation for richness and magnitude. He said that 
the leading store at Sutter's Fort in nine weeks received thirty-six 
thousand dollars in gold-dust, in exchange for goods ; and that two 
men took out of a small ravine seventeen thousand dollars in seven 
days. He relates that seven miners hired fifty Indians to work for 
them seven weeks. At the end of that time, they had two hundred 
and seventy-three pounds of pure gold, the casli value of which was 
nearly forty thousand dollars. Some men, on some days, made a 
hundred dollars each, and even more. A miner pulled up a bush one 
day, and shook the earth from 
its roots into his pan, as a 
farmer pulls and shakes a h 
of potatoes, and the yield of 
gold from that bush was near- 
ly fifty dollars. In 1850, a 
nugget of gold was found in 
Nevada County, valued at 
three h u n d r e d and twelve 
dollars. In Columbia Dis- 
trict, the same year, severa 
nuggets of even greater value 
were picked up, one of them 
weighing twenty-three 
pounds. It was not unusua 
for a piece of ground ten feet 
square to yield ten thousand 
dollars from the surface-dirt. 
Many facts of this kind prove that 
gold was plentiful, however much 
exaggeration there was connected 
with its discovery. The subsequent 
history of mining on the Pacific Coast proves, also, that the facts are 
marvellous. Since the discovery of gold there in 1848 the product 
of the mines of California to the present time exceeds $1,200,000,000 ! 
Marshall's ounce of gold-dust assured the speedy settlement and 
growth of the New West. "Money makes the mare go," is an old 
maxim that has been wonderfully illustrated in the progress of 
Christian civilization in the Rocky Mountain region. 

There were scarcely two thousand Americans in California in Feb- 
ruary, 1848; in December there were six thousand ; in July, 1849, 
fifteen thousand ; and in December of that year, fifty-tJircc thousand. 
It was claimed that the rush of men to California, in five years after 




OFF FOR THt 



434 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

the discovery of gold, was so immense as to remove the centre of 
our country's population eighty-one miles west. Then the inhabi- 
tants of California numbered three hundred thousand, and nearly tzvo 
hundred and seventy niillion dollars had been extracted from the 
mines. The author of that valuable work, "Mining Camps," says: 
"The summer of 1849 saw no less than five hundred and forty-nine 
sea-going vessels in the port of San Francisco. In the month of 
August, four hundred large ships were idly swinging at anchor, desti- 
tute of crews ; for their sailors had deserted, swam ashore, escaped 
to the gold-fields. Thirty-five thousand men came by sea, and forty- 
two thousand by land, during the year. Australia, the Asian coasts, 
Africa, and South America contributed to the motley host that 
thronged the roads to the placers." Prices were fabulous : a shirt, 
$25; a comb, $6; barrel of mess pork, $220; dozen sardines, $35 ; a 
hundred pounds of flour, $75 ; a candle, $3 ; tin pan, $9 ; shovel, $10; 
pick, $15. 

Ten years later, the discovery of gold in what is now Colorado 
created another "unparalleled excitement," as we have already seen. 
As Colorado was more accessible than California, the rush of pro- 
spectors was much larger. They poured into the gold-fields by tens 
of thousands. Many even left the mines of California for richer 
ones, as they supposed, in Colorado. No amount of hardship and 
suffering could deter the tide of immigration. Many of the gold 
seekers were the most intelligent and substantial men of the Anglo- 
Saxon race from the East, West, and South. Unwittingly they came 
to lay the foundation of an empire. They were the modern Argo- 
nauts, who sought only "the golden fleece," but developed the rich- 
est, fairest, grandest country on earth. 

Beginning at Cherry Creek, near the site of Denver, this army 
of prospectors scoured the " Plains " and penetrated the Rocky 
Mountains, searching for gold. Clear Creek Canon, Boulder, Cali- 
fornia Gulch, and a large number of other localities "opened rich," 
augmenting the excitement with the increase of the gold-product. 
Then followed the discovery of silver, which was as unexpected as it 
was fortunate, opening new fields of research, and bringing other 
thousands of enthusiastic toilers into the Territory. 

At the same time, the prospector was abroad in Arizona, Nevada, 
Utah, New Mexico, Montana, Idaho, and, indeed, throughout the 
whole country between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean; 
and the news of rich mines in all these localities spread wildly over 
the land. Untold millions of precious stones and metals were treas- 



MARVELS OF MINING. 435 

ured in the Rocky Mountain region, and the ke.y was found with 
which to open the vaults. Throughout the vast territory which the 
United States government purchased of France and Mexico for 
about thirty niillion dollars (two cents per acre) was made the disclo- 
sure of unparalleled resources in gold and silver. This was especially 
true of Colorado, from whose mines alone have been taken seven 
times as many dollars as the government paid to France and Mexico 
for their mammoth claims in what we now call the New West. 
Since that day of small beginnings in the gold harvest on Cherry 
Creek, the mines of the Centennial State have yielded over tivo hun- 
dred inillion dollars. Colorado has mines which have yielded fabu- 
lous amounts in a short time. In eighteen months, prior to 1880, the 
Little Pittsburg yielded ($3,800,000) tlircc niillion eight hundred 
thousand dollars ; the Little Chief, in the same period ($2,056,292) 
tivo million fifty-six thousand t700 hundred ninety-tiuo dollars ; the 
Chrysolite, in fifteen months ($2,100,000) tzuo niillion one hundred 
thousand dollars ; the Gregory, j-(:'^r// niillions in sixteen years; and 
the Bobtail, y^Tv millions ir fifteen years. 

In, 1883 the bullion pr iuct of Colorado was ($26,376,562) tioenty- 
six million three Iiund d seventy-six thousand five hundred and 
sixty-tzvo dollars, nearly the amount which our government paid to 
France and Mexico for the immense territory spoken of. In 1884, 
the amount was somewhat diminished, but amounted to ($20,233,749) 
twenty million tivo hundred thirty-three thousand seven hundred 
fiorty-nine dollars. In 1885, its bullion product was ($22,500,000) 
tioenty-tic'o million five hundred thousand dollars. Colorado took the 
lead of all the States and Territories in bullion product in 1880, Cali- 
fornia taking the second place, and Nevada the third place. Colorado 
has stood at the head of the column ever since. 

In eight years (from 1859 ^o 1867) the Comstock lode in Nevada 
yielded the enormous sum of ($66,000,000) sixty-six million dollars. 
It was thought in 1867 that this could not be beat ; and yet this lode 
largely , advanced its production in the next twelve years. For in 
twenty years from 1859, its production reached the startling figures 
($385,000,000) thirc hundred eighty five million dollars, — an annual 
average product of over ($19,000,000) nineteen million dollars. 

With this production of vast wealth, it is not strange that the first 
"Industrial and Mining Exposition" ever known in the world should 
be opened in the New West, where twenty-five years before there 
spread out the most barren waste of the whole region. Had a prophet 
of a generation ago foretold that the first great mining exposition in 



436 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

the history of nations would be opened on the desert lying between 
the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains, his prophecy would 
have been regarded too ludicrous to provoke even a smile. And yet 
we are able to furnish an account of just that occurrence, accom- 
panied with a good illustration of the costly and beautiful Exposition 
Building, which rose like magic, in 1882, upon a location so recently 
abandoned to the support of the buffalo and savage, and which stands 
to-day a monument of the industry and wealth of the Anglo-Saxon 
race under the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. 

The Industrial Exposition Building, a view of which is shown on the 
following page, is 500 feet in length by 310 in extreme width. The 
amount of space available for exhibition purposes is 82,230 square 
feet on the ground floor, and 33,850 in the gallery, amounting in all 
to about three acres. The construction of the building required 
3,250,000 bricks, 1,250,000 feet of lumber, 700 boxes of window glass, 
50,000 pounds of nails, and over three acres of tin roofing. Power 
is furnished for machinery by a 250-horse-power Corliss engine, the 
boilers of which are located in a separate building, 50 ■; 50 feet in 
size. Besides the engine-house, there are several large annexes for 
agricultural implements, machinery, etc. Steam and water are 
carried to all parts of the building, and it is lighted at night by the 
Weston electric light. It is truly an artistic structure, and is located 
on six acres of ground, two miles or more from City Hall, which the 
Association purchased of the commissioners of Arapahoe County for 
^25,000. The cost of the building was ($150,000) one hundred fifty 
thousand dollars. 

The first exposition was opened Aug. i, and closed Oct. i, 1882. 
Each year since an exposition has been opened at the same season 
of the year, and continued about the same length of time, each 
one eclipsing its predecessor in the magnitude of its exhibit. While 
mining products were made a specialty, all the industries of Colo- 
rado and the New West were largely represented. At the first 
exposition, 4,551 mines were represented, from which 678 tons of ore 
were shown, the estimated value of which was $718,850. The exhi- 
bition was a surprise even to those well acquainted with mining. 
Hon. W. D. Kelley delivered the address at the ojiening of the first 
exposition, and he began by saying : — 

" The splendors of Palmyra and the desert pale before a recital 
of the brief history of Colorado. Ten years ago, I spent some weeks 
in traversing your beautiful State, and became familiar with every- 
thing of note in Denver, its metropolis ; and, as yesterday morning I 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



437 



looked u p o n 

the city again, 

I felt that I 

could not safe- 
ly trust my 

own senses. 

I w o n d e r e d 

whether I was 

not under the 

d o m i n i o n of 

magi, and that 

fairies and 

genii were 

playing tricks 

with my vision. 

History m ay 

be challenged, 

and challenged 

in vain, for a 

parallel to the 

progress made 

by this city in 

its brief period, 

in wealth, in 

arts, in all the 

elements of 

modern a n d 
advancing civ- 
ilization. 

"Standing 
here on the 
western b o r - 
ders of what 
was called but 
a few years 
ago the desert 
plain, and in 

the shadow of the Rocky Mountains, with an elevation of 
than five thousand feet above the level of the sea, we mark 
opening of this exhibition the entrance of a new era in history, 
brilliant than any of its predecessors, and more beneficent, 




more 

in the 

more 

in as- 



438 



MAKl'ELS OF THE iVElV II EST. 



much as it will open the blessings of civilization to portions of the 
people who have hitherto failed to receive them." 

First of all, in the mining business, appears the "prospector." 
He is one who searches for mines. Although the discovery of gold 
in California, in 1848, and in Colorado, ten years later, was acci- 
dental, as miners say, yet these discoveries created a new class of 
workers; viz., prospectors. Mines do not "lie around loose," to 
be stumbled upon by ignorant and unenterprising men ; they are 



fi^iwr 



^iv 



4: 










found generally by the most painstaking and wearisome labors. 
To-day some mines are found where they were searched for in vain 
twenty years ago. Investigation, experience, and science have con- 
tributed a fund of knowledge to make the researches of the pros- 
pector easier and surer. 

The prospector may be a native or foreigner ; an ignorant ad- 
venturer or a graduate of Harvard or Yale ; a man who expects to 
make a "lucky strike," or one who knows that industry and perse- 
verance alone will hew his way to success. The great majority of 



MARVELS OF MINING. 439 

the former class have found their level in poverty or the grave, leav- 
ing the field of exploration open for the more intelligent and enter- 
prising to occupy. 

In the autumn of 1883, we met a very interesting young man of 
thirty years in Chalk Creek, Colorado. He had been a successful 
schoolmastej- and prospector, but for several months had been work- 
ing his "claim." The following was the story of his success : — 

He was a teacher for several years in a large city east of the 
Mississippi. There were two other schoolmasters in the same city, 
about his age, both of them very efficient in their profession. Each 
of them had laid by three or four thousand dollars, when one of the 
number, who had read and studied much about mining, proposed a 
prospecting tour in Colorado during the approaching summer vaca- 
tion. The result was a decision to abandon school-keeping for 
mining at the expiration of that school-year. 

Having decided to follow mining as their life-business, they 
started out with their "gripsacks," prepared to walk any distance 
that was necessary, or to ride in car or stage, or on mule or buck- 
board, as the case might be. They must find a mine. They ex- 
pected to find one. They did find one. 

After prospecting for several months in the Rocky Mountains, 
without meeting with the success which their ambition coveted, they 
heard of a mine up in Chalk Creek that had been abandoned by the 
owners for want of money to work it. Thither they repaired, insti- 
tuted a thorough examination, and became satisfied that the parties 
abandoned the enterprise when they were on the eve of success. 
They bought the mine for a song, and within a few weeks were 
extracting gold in sufficient quantities to assure their fortunes. 
They proved themselves as efficient in the mining industry as they 
did in school-keeping. Their intelligence, tact, and persistent efforts 
run the mine as easily as they did the school. 

In a town on the Pacific slope, a minister rehearsed the following- 
incident to the writer. A few Sabbaths before, a stranger came into 
his congregation, wearing long unkempt hair and a miner's suit of 
canvas. His external appearance was that of a miner, but his bearing 
was that of a literary gentleman. He paid the closest attention to 
the sermon from beginning to end, thereby adding to the preacher's 
interest and curiosity. The latter became intensely interested in 
his new hearer; and, at the close of the preaching service, he was 
delighted to find that the stranger remained to join the Sabbath 
school. " Now," said the minister to himself, " I will find out who 



440 MARVELS OF THE AEW II 'EST. 

he is and where he came from." He thought he must be a Hterary 
gentleman. 

The school was all embraced in one class, taught by the pastor ; 
and, in the lesson of that day, there arose a discussion upon the 
change of the Jewish to the Christian Sabbath. Several different 
opinions were expressed, when the pastor, thinking that his favorable 
moment had arrived, addressed the stranger : — 

" Friend, we are glad to see you, and would be most hajjpy 
to hear from you. Have you any thoughts to express upon this 
subject 1 " 

The pastor had given his interpretation of a certain passage of 
Scripture, and he was somewhat taken aback by the response of his 
new pupil. 

" I do not think that your interpretation of the passage is sup- 
ported by the original Greek." 

"Do you understand the Greek language.'" inquired the pastor. 

The stranger thrust his hand down into the big pocket of his 
miner's suit, pulled out a Greek Testament, and proceeded to read 
the passage in Greek, and then translated it, with such comments as 
appeared to him pertinent. 

After the school was dismissed, the pastor had an interview with 
the stranger, and found that he was a graduate of Yale College, but 
was then a prospector in the mountains six miles distant. 

At the present time, it is not necessary for ignorance and inexpe- 
rience to try their "luck" in hunting mines; for a quarter of a 
century has produced a supply of men who understand the business, 
— geologists, mineralogists, learned professors, practical explorers, 
who repudiate "luck and chance" in this business, as really as the 
stock-raiser or manufacturer do in theirs. A "School of Mines " at 
Golden, Col, educates young men, or older men, for every part 
of this important service. A prospector must know how to pro- 
spect, as the chemist must know how to analyze, or the mechanic 
how to turn out his handiwork. 

There is but one sentiment among the initiated respecting the 
value and necessity of knowledge, observation, experience, and tact, 
to the prospector. Alexander Del Mar, M.I^., of San Francisco, 
wrote, a few years since, as follows : — 

" Mining does not consist of a knowledge of geology, nor fossilism, 
nor petrology, nor chemistry, nor metallurgy, nor microscopy, nor 
geodesy, nor surveying, nor mechanics, nor hydraulics, nor of how 
best to handle a rocker, a tom, a i:)ick, a sledge, or a drill. It con- 



MARVELS OF MINING. 44 1 

sists of all these things and many more combined. As such, it is 
not fully taught in the mining schools, whether of Frieberg, Paris, 
Madrid, or any other. The graduation certificate of these mining- 
schools are, therefore, of little value in determining the ability of a 
mining engineer. Accuracy of observation and truthfulness of re- 
port are among the most important characteristics of an engineer, 
because many mining operations are impossible without co-operation 
and capital, and these cannot be secured by men who are not accu- 
rate and reliable. Yet it is evident that these qualities cannot be 
acquired in school. 

" Second : Mining is a secret art. This arises from the tremen- 
dous rewards of successful mining. There are men in this city who, 
but a few years ago, were poor and hard-working, yet who are now 
reputed to be worth from fifteen to forty million dollars each. Min- 
ing is not an unknown art ; it is merely a secret one. There are 
plenty of men who can correctly answer most of the questions sug- 
gested in the above extracts, but who will not answer them, because 
it pays much better to keep them secret. Hence the answers do not 
find their way into books, and consequently arc not easily accessible 
to the editors of newspapers. There are men so familiar with the 
mineralogical 'indications' in their particular district of country that 
a 'twist ' in the 'grain ' of the ' country rock,' or the peculiar color of 
a spar seam will cause them to go on or stop mining, or to change the 
direction of their explorations. Each country has its own peculiar 
geology, and this is so vast, so complex, and the knowledge of it so 
imperfect, that it is difficult to learn and useless to transplant. The 
mine capitalists of 1824-25 learned to their cost, that British steam- 
mechanics and Mexican horse-mechanics were two different arts, and 
American mine capitalists may learn a similar lesson at the present 
time." 

Prof. J. Alden Smith, late State geologist of Colorado, said : — 
"The business of mining should be conducted on the same gen- 
eral basis as ordinary mercantile and manufacturing pursuits ; men of 
experience only should be allowed to manage mining properties, and 
not schoolmasters. It requires three times the experience, and four 
times the preparatory study, to successfully manage a mine, that it 
does to run a wholesale grocery or a woollen factory. There are 
dozens of mines in Colorado which have paid dividends ranging all 
the way from thirty to sixty per cent annually, for from five to twelve 
years consecutively, of which the general public has heard absolutely 
nothing. An instance came under my notice not long ago, where 



442 



MARTKLS OF THE XEir WEST. 



seven thousand seven hundred dollars ($7,700) was invested in a 
property bv a man of practical education, and the investment was 
returned inside of eighty-five days. Another practical manager re- 
turned to the owners of a certain mine, of whose existence the public 
is ignorant, a net profit of twenty-two thousand five hundred dollars 
(522,500) out of a gross product of twenty-five thousand dollars 
(S25.000)." 

We would not convev the idea that there is never anvthing like 



^s:^ 






. -.y^ 




iEK A.\a a£ER. 



what men call " stumbling upon a mine." We have already said that 
gold was first discovered in California and Colorado by men who 
were not searching for it. This, however, is not the rule, but the 
exception. We might fill a long chapter with these exceptions ; but 
the narrative w^ould be brief in comparison with the volumes in 
which are recorded the achievements of patient research anil scien- 
tific mining. 

It is related of an early adventurer, who drifted with the crowd to 
Leadville in 1878, that, after a vain endeavor to discover gold by his 
wits, poverty and despair got the better of him. He awoke one 



MARVI'.LS Of MINING. 



443 



morning without food or money, and canvassing his situation, he 
resolved to go out and shoot some sort of game to supply present 
and pressing necessities. He shot a deer ; and the animal, in his 
dying agonies, kicked up a parcel of dirt that disclosed the presence 
of gold. The poverty-stricken prospector opened his eyes when this 
proof of a mine was kicked into his face, made sure of his " claim," 
and opened one of the most profitable mines ever worked in that 
locality. He was mcjre indebted for his good fortune to the heels of 
the deer than he was to the " School of Mines." 

In the days of gold-excitement in California, three prospectors 
jointly engaged in mine-hunting with scarcely any success for months. 
Good news coming from another locality, they packed up their tools 




MINE LOCOMOTIVE. 



and started. On the way, they found the dead body of a man whose 
errand to that jmrt of the country was like theirs, without doubt. 

" Poor fellow ! " said f)ne of the men, " he has passed in his 
checks ! " 

" Let us give him a decent burial," proposed another of the men ; 
" some wife or mother will be glad, if she ever knows it." 

"All right," responded the third prospector; "it will be a humane 
deed, to say the least." 

So the three set to work with a will to dig the dead stranger's 
grave. Three feet from the surface they found evidence of gold; 
and the result was that they opened a gold mine there instead of a 
grave, and buried the stranger in another place. To that date their 
wits and industry did less for them than their humanity. 

There was a claim in Leadville called the " Dead Man Claim." 
The mine and the name came about in this way. A miner died when 



444 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



there were several feet of snow lying on the ground. His comrades 
wished to give him a respectable burial, so they hired another to dig 
his grave for twenty dollars. In the meantime, they laid the dead 
man away in a snowbank for safe keeping. When the grave-digger 
had been absent three days and no report from him had been 
received, a search was instituted, and he was found digging a mine 
instead of a grave. In excavating the grave, he struck a rich mine, 
and in his great ex- 
citement forgot the 
corpse and his bar- 
gain, intent only 
upon making his 
fortune. He had 
been an unsuccess- 
ful prospector, 
growing poorer 
and poorer from 
month to month, 
but now he "struck 
it rich " when he 
was thinking onl) 
of getting twent}- 
dollars to keep uj) 
the connection be- 
tween his soul and 
body. 

Into the little 
town of Rosita, 
Col., there came an 
old miner, in 1877 
or 1878, who had 
been an unsuccess- 
ful prospector in 
Australia. He re- 
turned from that far-off country without a dollar to his name, and 
hied away to the gold-fields of Colorado. For some months he ap- 
plied himself industriously to prospecting, but without success. He 
was so poor and "unlucky" that he became depressed and melan- 
choly. But one day he seated himself upon a stone, and proceeded 
aimlessly to strike another stone at his feet with his pick. He was 
altogether forlorn and hopeless ; and he was revolving his bitter 




MARVELS OF MINING. 



445 



experience in his thoughts. Unexpectedly he chipped off a piece of 
the rock he was so thoughtlessly pounding. The chip startled him; 
for his eye caught the evidence of a rich deposit of gold. He caught 
up the broken piece with delight, examined it closely to be sure of 
the truth, and sprang to his feet. It was gold ! gold ! a rich find, 
too ! — the first in all his prospecting and wanderings to gladden his 
heart. 





Ft_^ 




k' Sr- 



PLACER MININC 



He hurried into the town, and went directly to an acquaintance, 
to whom he showed his specimen, and offered to take him in as 
partner for tii^cnty-fivc dollars. His friend declined, whereupon he 
hastened to the assay office, where a load of wood had just been 
dropped. He agreed to saw the wood to pay for assaying his sam- 
ples. The result more than satisfied his wildest expectation. He 
took out of that mine ($450,000) four hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars, and then sold it for ($300,000) three hundred thousand, and 
($1,000,000) one million in stocks, — the best return an aimless blow 



446 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

ever received. Doubtless the fortunate man called his experience 
"luck." 

"Honest John," as he was called, a noted Idaho character, was 
out hunting, when he wounded a deer. He gave chase after the 
wounded creature through wood and glen, and finally stumbled over 
what proved to be a rich lode. The appearance of the earth attracted 
his attention, whereupon he instituted a careful examination, which 
resulted in the discovery of a rich mine. He named it Elkhorn ; and 
within six weeks he was taking fifteen Jumdred dollars a day out of 
it. The mine yielded one Jiundred and fifty tJiousand dollars in 1882, 
tJwec hundred thousand in 1883, and has continued to enrich its 
owners to this day. 

Placer mining first enlists the attention of gold-seekers, because 
it is easiest, most accessible, and makes prompt returns. It consists 
in washing the surface dirt. We saw that the thousands who 
invaded California in 1848-49 engaged at once in this sort of mining. 
The cut opposite represents them at work with pan and shovel, 
the former about the form and size of an ordinary tin pan. When 
the process of washing the gold from the dirt is remunerative, the 
miner says "\t pans out well." His pan furnishes the figure. 

As compared with lode mining, there is no outlay to be made in 
the outset, and no risk to run. At the close of each day the miner 
knows just the amount he has earned. He may be entirely ignorant 
of practical and scientific mining, but he knows enough to separate 
gold from the surface, dirt. He may be as poor as Job's long-eared 
companion, but his muscle and perseverance give him as good a 
chance as his more well-to-do co-worker enjoys. Poverty stands 
abreast with competency in this kind of work ; or poverty may 
sift dirt as fast, and perhaps faster, than competency. 

We have seen, also, that gold-seekers in Colorado, in 1858-59, 
devoted themselves to placer mining in Boulder, Gilpin, Park, Sum- 
mit, Lake, and other counties. Here they could work but five or 
six months of the year on account of the severity of the weather ; 
but one million a season was the average amount of gold secured for 
several years. Indeed, California Gulch alone, where three or four 
months of labor covered the working season, turned out one viillion 
each season for a series of years. 

The gold gathered by placer mining has been washed down from 
the mountains, through past ages, into the creeks, rivers, and gulches. 
Much of it works through the loose gravel down to the bed of rivers, 
where miners find the richest deposits. 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



447 



The rocker, sometimes called "cradle," is about as primitive as the 
pan in placer mining. A good illustration of it is found below, 
showing also the method of working it. It is simply a box about 
four feet long, mounted on rockers and furnished with graded sieves. 
The gold dirt is placed in the hopper, where the water is also poured, 
and, by the use of amalgamated plates and blankets, the gold is sepa- 
rated from the dirt as it is washed down from the hopper into the 
box. It is still in use in certain localities, as on river-bars, where 
other methods are not practicable. 




THt r- ^L 



Of course there is a limit to placer mining. The gold is exhausted 
in time ; and miners who are not prepared to engage in lode mining 
pack their traps and start for other placers This includes the class 
who have not the enterprise or capital to engage in lode mining ; and 
it is a ver}- large class, too. When the crowd of placer miners left 
Boulder, Gilpin, and other counties of Colorado just named, in 1863, 
for other placers \\\ the Rocky Mountains, even as far away as Mon- 
tana and Idaho, some of the richest lodes were being worked in the 
counties which they forsook. The Bobtail, Gregory, Winnebago, 
Burroughs, Kansas, and a score of others, were yielding their thou- 



448 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




GULCH MINING. 



sands of dollars every month ; liut the mass of stampeders had no 
love for this more difficult method of acquiring fortunes. Perhaps 
many of them really thought that the shortest cut to great wealth 
was through placer mining ; and so placers they must have. The 
word "placer" is from the Spanish, and means "content," "satisfac- 
tion " ; and this class appeared to be " content " with placers onlv. 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



449 



In 1862 placer mining began in Montana, and in 1867 Alder Gulch 
alone, thirteen miles long, had yielded sixty millions. From 1862 to 
the present time the placers of Montana have turned out o)ic Imndird 
and fifty millions. 

We have said that gold is washed down from the mountains into 
gulches and ravines, where the hydraulic method of securing it is 
brought into requisition. By this method water is carried long dis- 
tances, often by ditches and flumes, to wash gold from the dirt on a 
much larger scale. The cut (p. 431) shows the flume and sluices, the 
latter being nothing more than boxes into which the gold dirt is 

c a 1 r i e d by the 
s w 1 f t - r u n n i n g 
water, where the 
piesence of mer- 
eury in the bot- 
tom of the boxes 
it ti acts and sep- 
11 ates the gold 
1 1 m the dirt. 
( )iKe or twice a 
lay, as the cir- 
eum stances may 
)e, the water is 
^hut off, the box- 
s opened, and 
he gold secured. 
_^ I Sometimes a pow- 
ciful stream of 
water is poured 
into the sides of 
the gulch, to wash out the earth into the flume in a large way. 
Hydraulic mining caused such immense damage in California by 
filling up rivers and covering farming lands with debris, that it has 
been suppressed by legislation, thereby largely diminishing the gold- 
product, and causing depression in business. It is claimed that the 
suppression of this mode of mining threw tiocnty thousand men out 
of employment. Many persons believe that the damage by leg- 
islation will be greater than the damage by the accumulation of 
debris. 

Above is an illustration of hydraulic mining in Idaho, where a 

a few years ago, four inches long. 




GULCH MINING, IDAHO. 



450 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



two and a half wide, and one inch thick, weighing nineteen ounces, 
twelve pennyweights, and eighteen grains. 

In hydraulic mining, flumes are often carried across deep valleys, 
after the manner of railroad and highway bridges, as represented 
below. 

LODE MINING. 

Exhaustible placer mining was followed by inexhaustible lode 
mining, which embraces silver mining. Here it is necessary to sink 




f>Oi<l^' 



a shaft down into the bowels of the earth by drilling and blasting. 
This is accomplished by hard work and great expense. 

The next cut represents the perpendicular shaft into the earth, with 
two horizontal levels, or drifts. A windlass is erected at the opening 
of the shaft for the purpose of lowering and raising the bucket. 
Miners descend by the bucket or ladder. When a mine is excavated 
beyond seventy-five or a hundred feet, the windlass is no longer 
serviceable. Man-power is not equal to the task, and horse-power, 
with pulley or drum of timber, is called into requisition. At a greater 
depth, say two hundred or two hundred and fiftv feet, steam-power is 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



451 



required. When a large quantity of water hinders work in the mine, 
powerful pumps become indispensable. 

A mine may have several drifts, according to its depth, and the 
drifts may be on both sides of the shaft. The cut on the opposite 
page shows two drifts on the right. Often the drifts extend a long 
distance, and railway tracks are laid, on which the ore is conveyed 








^/^"i 


'#^ 


\ 


:^^--.^ 


„ 


Xfcwy'-aia^^i^. 


--- . 


^ 


- 




LODE MINING. 



to the bottom of the shaft, whence it is lifted to the surface of 
the earth. The Chrysolite Mine of Colorado has from seven to 
eight thousand feet of drift. 

The reader will observe that the mine is heavily timbered through- 
out. This is necessary in both shaft and drift to prevent caving, 
and assure safety to the miner who is obliged to adopt a subterra- 
nean life. It is a dark abode, so that the best artificial lighting is 



452 



MAR]' ELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



required. The miner must wear a light on his cap, in addition to 
the reflectors which illuminate his underground workshop. 

The depth of mines varies from fifty to twenty-five hundred feet. 
Many of them are one thousand feet deep. Several in Colorado are 
over thirteen hundred feet in depth ; and there is one in Nevada 
sunk twenty-five hundred feet into the bowels of the earth. What a 
place for a human being to live and labor in ! 

On the next page, veins of gold or silver are represented, with shaft 
sunk so as to cut them, or to reach them by its drifts. The veins can be 




UNDERGROUND RAILROAD 



worked above and beneath, as well as at the sides, by the men in the 
drifts. A vein may extend to such a length as to make it practicable 
to sink several shafts. 

When a profitable mine is f.iirly in operation, a building is erected 
over the entrance, proNidcd with all the room and appliances neces- 
sary to carry on the work in summer and winter. For the change of 
seasons does not trouble the miner at work a thousand feet below 
the earth's surface, nor even the change of temperature. Summer 
and winter are about the same to him. 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



453 



GOING INTO A MINE. 

A. A. Hayes, Jr., ha.s an amusing description of his descent into 
a Colorado mine, in his instructive book, " New Colorado," and we 
extract it for the entertainment of our readers at this point : — 

" Entering a rough wooden building, you see a steam-engine turn- 
ing an immense drum, around which is coiled a wire rope. On a 
chair sits, with each hand on a lever, the bright, watchful engineer, 
his eyes fixed on the drum, now nearly covered with the coil. In 
another minute, click ! the machinery has stopped, and out of an 




VL Nb 01- bOLb 



opening in front, like Harlequin in a Christmas pantomime, has come 
a grimy figure, who stands there smiling at you, with a lamp fixed on 
the front of his cap, and his feet on the rim of a great iron bucket. 
He steps off, the bucket is emptied of the load — not of rich ore, but 
of very dirty water, which it has brought up — and there is an air of 
expectancy among the workmen, and an inquiring smile on the face 
of Mr. Thornton, the superintendent. Something is clearly expected of 
you, for it is established that you are not what is called by the miners 
a ' specimen fiend,' or unmitigated sample-collecting nuisance, and it 
is assumed that when you came hither to investigate you ' meant 
business.' You take the hint and follow Mr. Thornton to a room, 
where, amidst a good deal of joking, you put on some clothes — and 



454 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



such clothes! If you have one spark of personal vanity, 'all hope 
abandon, ye who enter here,' for even your kind guide has to turn 
away to hide a smile when he sees you in overalls which will not 
meet in front, and are precariously tied with a ragged string ; an 
ancient flannel shirt, the sleeves of which hang in tatters around your 
wristbands, and a cap which might have come over in the MayfloweVy 




and has a smoky lamj) hooked into its fast-decomposing visor. As 
you approach the mouth of the shaft, the engineer genially remarks 
that there ' ain't much danger,' and when the bucket has come up and 
been partially emptied, the bystanders repeatedly advise you to be 
careful about getting in. As you climb perilously over the side, you 
think of the 1^^-enchman who, .starting in the fo.\ hunt, cried out, 
'Take noteece, mes amis, zat I leafe everyzing to my vife ! ' And 



MARVELS OF MINING. 455 

when you are crouched clown so that Mr. Thornton can stand on the 
run above, you do not think at all, but know that you are what M. 
Mantalini called 'a dern'd moist, unpleasant body.' Mr. Thornton 
makes a grim remark about it being as well to have some matches, 
in case the lamps go out, gives the word, and down you go. Under- 
stand that there is just about room for the bucket in the shaft, that 
the latter is slightly inclined, and that you catch, and jar, and shake 
in a nerve-trying way ; and understand further, that a person should 
carefully study his temperament and possible disabilities before he 
takes a contract to go into a deep shaft. 

" At a certain depth — it may be five hundred or one thousand feet 
(in some Nevada mines it is two thousand five hundred) — you stop 
at side-drifts or cross-.cuttings, in which men are at work ; and here 
you see, walled in by rock, the fissure vein. Some are ' stoping,' or 
cutting away pieces with a pick ; others holding the steel wedges ; 
and others striking them tremendous blows with sledge hammers. 
They are, by the way, in the habit of accompanying these blows 
with gutteral sounds, the hearing of which induced a special corre- 
spondent of the gentler sex — ignoring the fact that they receive 
three dollars /rr ^/r;«, own chronometer watches, and have fine bank 
accounts, and silver-spoons on their tables — to write a soul-moving 
description of the poor, down-trodden miner, imprisoned far from the 
light of the blessed day, uttering terrible groans as he toiled his life 
away for the enrichment of the bloated and pampered capitalist ! 
Other men, again, are drilling, loading, and tamping for the ' shots ' 
which are to tear the rock in pieces : and you will probably remem- 
ber a pressing engagement to 'meet a man' at some distance from 
the mine, and induce Mr. Thornton to ring for that moist car, and 
take you up before they light the match. Emerging from the shaft, 
clad once more in the garb of civilization, and thinking what a set of 
fine fellows you have seen, you will agree with the sagacious soul 
who said to the colonel and the commodore, ' Yes, there's a good 
many of them big-hearted fellows in this country. You see, them 
small-souled cusses takes too much irrigatiofi}- to bring t/ia/i out. 
They've got to git up an' git ! ' " 

In addition to the entertainment of the foregoing description, it is 
very instructive, and introduces the reader to some of the methods 
of mine life. 

The next cut illustrates what Mr. Hayes refers to by the word 

1 I.iiiuor. 



456 



MARVELS OF THE AEIV WEST. 



"stoping." The glossary of mining terms defines it to be " the act 
of breaking clown a stope [see definition of stopc^, and excavating it 
vvith a pick." 

WEIGHTS, VALUES, AND MEASUREMENTS. 

In his valuable history of Colorado, Mr. Fossett introduces many 
important facts concerning weights, values, and measurements con- 
nected with mining, which the reader will find of practical use. We 
copy them here, as we feel that it is almost indispensable for the 
reader to know them, if he would possess a comprehensive view of 
the subject in hand : — 




"A ton of gold or silver contains 20,166.66 ounces. 

"A ton of gold is worth $602,875. 

"A ton of silver, at the .standard rate of $1.29,29, would be worth 
537>709-57; but at the present price of silver, $1.10 per ounce, it 
would be worth only $32,083.32. 

"The standard of gold and silver for United States money is 900 
parts of i)urc metal and 100 parts of alloy in 1,000 parts of coin ; 
that is, a dollar is nine-tenths pure metal. 

"Standard gold is worth $18.60.465 per ounce United States gold 
coin, 214 carats fine. 



MARVELS OF MINING. 457 

"Standard silver, $1.1636-!- per ounce. l"he term 'fineness' ex- 
presses the quantity or proportion of pure metal in 1,000 parts. 

"The value of an ounce of gold, pure, is $20.67,183, or a]:)proxi- 
mately $20.67; 23.22 grains of pure gold equals $1. The .standard 
gold dollar is 25.8 grains troy, and the silver dollar 412.5, and the 
trade-dollar 420.9 grains. 

"Pure silver has 371.25 grains to the dollar; hence, the value of 
one ounce should be $1.29,29 [-, instead of the varying bullion i)ricc 
$1.10 or $1.15. Had the former been the ruling price, as in by-gone 
years, Colorado's silver product of 1878 would have had a \alua- 
tion one million greater than it was. 

"The British standard of coinage is 11 parts of gold to one of 
alloy, and of silver, t^j parts of silver to 30 alloy. Quotations of the 
price of silver on the British market is made on that basis, viz. : of 
tV^V fine; while American transactions are made in the pure metal. 
This accounts for the lower rates per ounce of the former. 

" One pound ' troy ' weight equals fff of a pound avoirdu])ois ; 
7,000 troy grains ec[ual one pound avoirdupois; 437.5 troy grains 
equal an ounce avoirdupois ; 175 troy pounds equal 144 pounds avoir- 
dupois ; 175 troy ounces equal 192 ounces avoirdupois; one avoir- 
dupois pound equals 1.215,278 pounds troy. 

"One troy pound equals 22.8156 cubic inches of water. 

"One cubic foot equals 7.4805 gallons. 

"One metre equals 39.370,797 inches, English measurement. 

"One decametre equals 32.80899 feet, English measurement. 

"One hectometre equals 328.0899 feet, English measurement. 

"One kilometre equals 3,280.899 feet, English measurement. 

" It is estimated that the gold coin, bars, and bullion in circula- 
tion in the world are worth $3,500,000,000; equal to the debt of 
Great Britain. II this was in one mass, it would make a twenty-five 
foot cube. One cubic foot of gold weighs 1,200 pounds, and is worth 
not far from $300,000. Silver is about one-half as heavy as gold, — 
a cubic foot of silver weighing about 600 pounds, worth about 
$10,000. There is about the same value of silver in the world as 
gold ; viz., $3,500,000,000." 

We add, also, that a carat is a weight used by goldsmiths and 
jewellers. Originally the Kaura bean was used for this purjiose, 
from which the name carat was derived. A carat is a weight of four 
grains, when used in weighing diamonds ; and when used in refer- 
ence to the fineness of gold, pure gold is supposed to weigh twenty- 
four carats of twelve grains each, and this pure gold is called fine. 



45 « 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



Thus, if gold be said to be twenty-two carats fine, it is meant that 
twenty-two twenty-fourths are pure gold, and two twenty-fourths 
alloy. Coin is usually twenty carats fine ; while gold used for orna- 
ments and jewelry varies from eighteen carats down as low as twelve 
and even ten carats. The alloy is usually silver. Gold in its pure 
state is too soft for ordinary use. 

E. B. Elliott, the government actuary, has computed the weight of 
$1,000,000 in gold and silver coin, as follows : — 




ROCK-BORING WINCH. 



The standard gold dollar of the United States contains of gold of 
nine-tenths fineness, 25.8 grains ; and the standard silver dollar con- 
tains of silver of nine-tenths fineness, 425.5 grains. In round num- 
bers, the following table represents the weight of $1,000,000 in the 
coins named : — 

Description of Coin. Tons. 

Standard gold coin i% 

Standard silver coin 26^ 

Subsidiary silver coin 25 

Minor coin, five-cent nickel lOO 



MARl'ELS OF MINING. 



459 



REDUCTION OF ORI-:S. 

When ores are brought to the surface of the earth, the metals 
which they contain are to be extracted therefrom. In this difficult 
art great progress has been made since the (liscover_^ of gold in 
California. At first only from fifteen to forty per cent of gold and 
silver was actually saved. The expense of extracting them was often 
too great to leave any margin for profits. The trouble was chiefly in 
not knowing how. For more than a quarter of a century capitalists 
in the mining business have been learning how, so that now a much 
larger per cent of metals is saved ; and ores that formerly did 
not pay for working, now yield a handsome income. Remarkable 

improvement in machinery for 
reducing ores has been made 
in this period, illustrating the 
familiar maxim that " necessity 
IS the mother of invention." 

First, there is the stamp-mill 
process, which has been used 
more or less from the start for 
the low-grade gold ores. The 
cut well represents the machine, 
and Mr. Fossett's ^ description 
of it, which we quote, will give 
the reader a correct idea of it. 

"The stamp-mill process is 
very imperfect, but has been 
vastly improved during the past 
fifteen years, as far as oj^era- 
At one time only from fifteen 
to forty per cent of the gold contained in the ore was saved, while 
from fifty to seventy per cent, and occasionally more, are saved at 
the present time. One mill claims a saving of over eighty-five per 
cent, including returns of huddled tailings. Blankets and pans help 
to increase the returns. 

" The mill proper consists of a solid framework, heavy iron 
stamps and attachments, propelled by steam or water power by means 
of a horizontal shaft and connections. Mortars, inclined tables, and 
other accessories go to make up the contents of the establishment. 




TEN-STAMP QUARTZ MILL. 



tions in Colorado are concerned. 



46o MAR I -ELS OF THE NEW 1 1 EST. 

The framework is upright, as are also the iron stamps, which are 
made to rise and fall by means of cams, or arms, extending from the 
revolving shaft above. The stamps rise from twelve to eighteen 
inches, and drop on the ore in iron mortars or troughs beneath, from 
twenty-seven to thirty-five times per minute. These mortars are 
several feet long, and from twelve to fourteen inches high, and nine 
or ten deep, and rest on solid wooden foundations. They are placed 
between the upright wooden posts of the frame ; the stamps, usually 
five in number, that rise and fall thereon, form what is termed a 
battery. The mortars are the receptacles for the ore, which is 
shovelled or fed into them as fast as it can be advantageously crushed 
by the stamps, at the same time that a constant stream of water flows 
in the same direction. Some mills have but a single battery of five 
stamps ; others have ten or twenty, and there are some that have 
fifty and seventy-five. 

" On the side of the mortars where the ore feeding is done, the 
framework is boarded up some distance, and on the other side are 
sheet-iron screens, through which the pulverized ore and water is 
forced on to the sloping copper-plated inclines or tables below. 
Quicksilver is fed into the batteries and on to the tables when the 
mill man deems it necessary. This retains most of the gold on the 
tables, while the pulp or slimes from the batt'eries are being carried 
onward by the water to the huddling tanks or stream beyond. The 
stamps are stopped, the water turned off, and the mortars and the 
plates of the tables are cleaned once a day, or once in several days, 
and the amalgam, or gold and quicksilver combination, is taken to the 
retort-room. Here it is skimmed and cleaned and pressed in a cloth, 
so as to get rid of as much of the quicksilver as possible; the 
remainder is retorted, and the crude bullion sold at the banks at from 
fourteen to eighteen dollars per ounce, or shipped in other ways. 
Gold from different mines varies in fineness and value, the quantity 
of silver accompanying it having much to do with this. The average 
fineness of Gilpin County bullion or retort gold is seven hundred and 
eighty-seven parts pure gold, one hundred and ninety-eight parts pure 
silver, and fifteen parts copper. The bullion obtained is from one- 
fourth to one-half of the amalgam, but rarely the latter. The quick- 
silver, after being condensed, is saved for future use. 

" After the pulverized ore leaves the batteries it is usually washed 
over two sets of inclined tables, the lower ones being covered with 
blankets. Some mills use jxins, modelled after the principle of an 
arrastra. The pulp or slimes, on leaving the mill proper, are gen- 



MARlllLS OF MINING. 



4.61 



erally worked over or concentrated by washing or huddling, when the 
concentrates are sold to the smelters. This often adds a dollar or 
two per ton to the total receipts from the ore. Formerly no effort 
was made to save anything beyond the tables. About one ton of 
these tailings can be saved and sold to every ten tons of ore crushed. 
" The stamps used in these mills weigh from five hundred to seven 
hundred pounds, arc generally ten or twelve feet high, and consist of 
a stem, head, shoe, and a collar, by means of which the cam raises 





SMELTING WORKS AT ARGO. 



them. The stem is made of wrought iron, and is from two to three 
inches in diameter, while the shoes attached to the lower part of the 
stem, and which come in contact with the ore, are thicker, and are 
made of steel or hardened iron. The stamps crush the ore to a pulp 
or powder, and much of the gold contained therein falls to the bottom 
of the mortars, and is taken up by the quicksilver placed there. 
Other portions of the gold are caught on the tables, blankets, and in 
the pans." 

Many machines for crushing ores have been in use, but a few 



4^^2 JLIATELS or THE AKlf irA'ST. 

only have proved effective. " Blake's Jaw Crusher " stands at the heatl 
of the list for thorough and extensive work. " Dodge's Crusher." 
and Allen's, also, rank high. Many an aspirant for the honor of 
bringing out the best machine for crushing has retired from the hekl 
at heavv pecuniarv loss and heavier disappointment. 

SMi:i.llNc;. 

The richest ores are sent to the smelters, which have become 
numerous throughout the New West. Many and great improve- 
ments have been made in smelting ores within twent^• vears. The 




.OLD AND SIL, 



first successful smelting establishment was erected bv the " Boston 
and Colorado Smelting Company." at Blackhawk, in 1864. and was 
removed to Argo, two miles from Denver, in 187S. Hon. N. P. Hill 
is the general manager, under whose efficient directiiMi the enter- 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



463 



prise has been eminently successful. The sketch (p. 461) is from a 
photograph of the works. 

The buildings occupy a lot of eight acres, all of which is enclosed 
by a high stone wall. Many cottages for the accommodation of the 
families of workmen have been erected within the enclosure. Two 
hundred and fifty men are employed in the works. The first build- 
ing reached, after passing through the gate, 
i^ \\\it hundred feet long and one hundred 
wide, used for crushing and baking ores. 
1 1 has four crushers and twenty-four ovens. 
In the next building the ore is smelted by 
eight furnaces, capable of smelting one hun- 
dred and twenty-eight tons daily. From 
this building the smelted ore is conveyed to 
the next one, where the crushing and baking 
processes are repeated, before the product 
is sent to the tub and refining rooms. 

The capital of this company is $1,500,000, 
and about half of a million in bullion is 
turned out monthly. More than one million 
dollars is the value of ores which the com- 
pany constantly carries. Railway tracks 
are laid to the works from the Colorado 
Central, over which the immense freight is 
hauled. The Argo and Grant Smelters, of Denver, together em- 
ploy from four to five hundred men, and the annual aggregate of 
their bullion product amounts to tivelve million dollars. 

The process of extracting and refining gold and silver results in 
producing the pure metal. The above cut shows a ton of pure silver 
in cakes or bricks of an average weight. When melted into solid 
bars, instead of bricks, the average weight of the bars is one thou- 
sand seven hundred ounces, valued at nearly two thousand dollars. 
Bars or bricks of gold range in value from fifteen thousand dollars to 
twenty-five thousand dollars. 




A TON OF PURE SILVER. 



LEADVILLE. 



The most famous mining town in the world must be a marvel ; 
and that town is Leadville. In the autumn of 1877 there were about 
three hundred souls within the township, including, perhaps, ten or 
twelve families. One year later there were six thousand inhabitants. 



464 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

occupying about two thousand dwellings, such as they were. Rich 
gold mines were discovered, and the rush began. Before the close 
of 1879, it was claimed that the population of Leadville reached thirty 
thousand. The value of precious metals mined in 1878 was three 
and one-half millions; and in 1879, nearly tzvclvc viillions. Mr. 
Kent claimed, for 1879, that the above product was over thirty-one 
thousand dollars for each day of the year, over thirteen hundred dol- 
lars for each hour of the day, about twenty-two dollars for each 
minute, and thirty-six cents for each second, day and night, for the 
whole year. More than five Jiundrcd thousand dollars was sent by 
miners, in money-orders, through the Leadville post-office, to friends, 
in 1879. These money-orders were so many messengers, sent all 
over the land to proclaim that Leadville was the richest mining 
camp in the world. It was not strange that the tide of emigration 
setting thitherward increased in volume from month to month. 

A large criminal class came with the crowd, but soon were forced 
to conform to municipal law, or move on to other fields. In less 
than two years from the time of opening the rich mines, the town 
could boast a strong city government, with ample means to maintain 
itself ; well-organized police and fire departments ; water-works to 
supply the city with water, and gas-works to supply it with light ; 
one bank with deposits amounting to cii^Jit Jiundrcd thousatid dollars, 
and another six hundred thousand, with exchange for 1879 amount- 
ing to ten million dollars ; three daily newspapers ; a free-school 
system established, and five high-school buildings erected, with a 
competent and experienced educator for superintendent of schools ; 
and four Protestant churches, with efficient pastors, together with a 
Catholic cathedral nearly completed, at an expense of thirty tJiousand 
dollars. All this accomplished in less than two years ! 

The Leadville of to-day is a well-ordered city of twenty thousand 
inhabitants, industrious, enterprising, and thrifty. The "floating 
population " has floated away, leaving the intelligent and reliable 
class to control and build up a town of grand possibilities. 

The city is located between two lofty ranges of mountains, 
more than ten thousand feet above the sea-level, and therefore 
above the clouds, and hence called "the city of the clouds." Its 
streets are wide, and the chief ones are lined with as extensive and 
well-stocked warehouses as are found in Eastern cities. Indeed, few 
towns of its size in New England can boast of as large a music 
store as we saw on its principal street. Its public buildings — espe- 
cially its opera-house — would be regarded with pride in the best 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



465 



towns of the East. Its newest and largest hotel is represented 
below. It bears the name of Leadville's most successful capitalist 
and generous benefactor, — Hon. Horace A. W. Tabor, of whom the 
editor of the Hcmld-Dcmocrat says : " He may justly be styled the 
father of Leadville. Having rocked its cradle in infancy, and sustained 
It generously through childhood,he is entitled to its allegiance and rev- 
erence in its maturity, both of which he unquestionably possesses." 

The Grand Tabor is a large, costly hotel, built of brick, with stone 
trimmings, and furnished as elegantly as the best hotels east of the 
Mississippi. 












^^^ 



TABOR GRAND. 

A single fact illustrates the magnitude, cheapness, and reliability 
of Leadville's market. A new citizen desired to purchase a fine gold 
watch, and he wrote a friend in New York City to purchase it for 
him at Tiffany's. The friend called at that famous store, and made 
known his errand. The manager replied : - We will sell you a watch 
for your Leadville friend ; but he can purchase just as good a watch 
of Joslm & Park, Leadville, as we can sell you, and get it just as 
cheap, and save heavy express charges." This fact was communicated 
to the citizen of Leadville, and the watch was bought in that city. 

Leadville has been supposed by the Eastern people to be exceed- 
ingly mean, morally, —next door to the pit, possibly ; but we assure 



466 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

the reader that it is really a Christian city to-day, because its eight 
or ten active churches give tone and direction to public thought and 
sentiment. Vice is no more prevalent than it is in Eastern cities, and 
crime does not make so black a record as it does in numerous Eastern 
towns we might name. In the autumn of 1883, the writer walked 
through its principal thoroughfare after nine o'clock in the evening, 
and witnessed the same order and quiet to which he had been accus- 
tomed at home. True, the doors of saloons were thrown wide open, 
and they were thronged with miners from the suburbs ; but the crowd 
was orderly and quiet. Just before our visit there, a member of the 
city government knocked down a man on the street, with whom he 
had an altercation ; and forthwith he was arraigned by his associates, 
who, after due examination, moved to expel him from their body, and 
would have accomplished their purpose, had not legal counsel decided 
that only the people who elected could depose him. Kut the citizens 
accepted the will for the deed ; and we assured one of them that such 
an honorable regard for the dignity and reputation of the city govern- 
ment was not possible in New York or Boston. 

The banking business of this remarkable city is a prominent factor 
in its history. "The Carbonate Bank is the leading financial institu- 
tion, established," says the editor of the Hcrald-Democrat, " less for 
the purpose of pecuniary gain than to furnish an absolutely safe de- 
pository for the large sums of money which it was necessary to keep 
at easy command, for use by mining and smelting men in their exten- 
sive financial transactions." 

This authority furnishes the following facts taken from the books 
of the institution : — 

" The amount of money received and paid to depositors, for the 
year 1885, was over thirty-ciglit millions of dollars (^38,000,000). 

"The average deposits carried for the first six months of 1885, was 
tJircc hundred ninety-three thousand four dollars ($393,004). 

" The average amount of deposits carried for the second six months 
of 1885, was four hundred nincty-oiic thousand one hundred forty dol- 
lars ($491,140). 

"The average daily cash balance carried for the twelve months of 
1885, was tiuo hundred fifty thousand one hundred sixty-three dollars 
($250,163). 

"The average per cent of available cash to deposits for the year 
1885, \N7is fifty-seven per eenl (.57). 

"The number of depositors at the present time is ten hundred and 
fifty (1050). 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



467 



"The number of drafts drawn during the year was eleven thousand 
three hundred thirty-six ( 1 1,336). 

"The total amount of the drafts drawn was five niillion nine hun- 
dred sevejiteen thousand dollars (5,917,000). 

"The average number of drafts drawn was thirty-seven {t^J) for 
each business day during the year." 




LOOKING WEbT hRu.M PRINTER BOY HILL. 



Teadville schools would be an honor to any city of New England. 
In February, 1878, the first school was opened in a rude log house, 
where thirty boys and girls were taught by Mrs. A. R. Undergraff. 
In eighteen months from that time, there were twelve public schools 
and thirteen teachers. One year later, there were twenty-one teachers 
and two thousand pupils. In May, 1881, an elegant school building, 
built of brick and highly ornamented with stone trimmings, was com- 
pleted at an expense of sixty-tivo thousand dollars. It is eighty-one 



468 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

feet long and seventy-nine wide, two stories high above the base- 
ment, the latter portion being devoted to play rooms, janitor's room, 
and office of the superintendent of the city schools. Each story of 
the building is sixteen feet high, the whole heated by four furnaces 
in the cellar, and supplied with water and gas pipes. 

The erection of this schoolhouse was followed by the building of 
another at a cost of forty-five tJioitsand dollars. In the autumn of 
'^'}j, we found two additional schoolhouses (making four in all), 
which cost forty tJiousand dollars each. In five and one-half years 
from the time of opening the first school in the log cabin, we found, 
by personal observation, a complete system of graded schools, includ- 
ing a thoroughly equipped high school, with nearly two thousand 
pupils enrolled in four elegant buildings, with a corps of experienced 
teachers, whose services were obtained only by the payment of large 
salaries. To-day the schools of Leadville lose nothing in comparison 
with the best schools of the land. No teacher is paid less than 
twenty dollars a week ; and the best-paid ones xq.q€\vq. forty-two dollars 
per week. Most of them came from the East, where they had already 
won a reputation for skilful work in the schoolroom. 

"But what of Leadville's output of gold and silver.?" the reader 
inquires. It is this marvellous showing, of course, which especially 
interests the outside world. The city's great mining interest de- 
mands great facilities for business. Hence, everything is done on a 
magnificent scale, as the following facts prove : — 

" There are fourteen miles of switches in the Leadville depot 
yards, including smelter yards and sampling works tracks. 

" Four hundred and fifty cars are handled daily in the yards at 
Leadville, six consolidated engines, twenty-eight switchmen, and 
six yard conductors are required to perform this service, owing to 
the heavy grades, the maximum grade being three hundred and five 
feet to the mile and thirty degrees curvature. 

"Twenty-five cars of coal is the daily consumpticMi at Leadville. 

"Ore shipments from Red Cliff, Kokomo, and Robinson, to Lead- 
ville are now ten cars per day regularly. 

"The Leadville smelters consume daily ten cars of coke, twenty- 
five cars of charcoal, twelve cars of lime rock, two cars of burnt lime, 
five cars of coal, and seven cars of wood. 

"The Denver and Rio Grande has eight passenger trains arri\-ing 
and departing daily from Leadville. 

"The Denver, South Park, and Pacific has two passenger and two 
accommodation trains to and from Leadville daily. 



MARVELS OF MINING. A,<Sc) 

" Twenty-eight freight trains arrive and depart on the roads at 
Leadville daily." 

The total product of Leadville's mines in 1885 was tivclvc viilliou 
three hundred fifty-seven thousand six hundred sixty-tzvo dollars 
($12,357,662). The product for seven years is as follows : — 

1S79 $10,333,740 

18S0 15,025,135 

1881 13,147,257 

1882 17,127,402 

1883 15.538,446 

1884 12,837,497 

1885 12,357.662 

Total $96,367,139 

Almost one Jinndred jnil/ions in seven years ! More than half of 
Colorado's entire product of gold and silver in 1885 yielded by the 
Leadville district. 

The year 1886 was the most prosperous year for the city since 
1880; and, at this time of writing, mining was nevermore profitable; 
old mines continuing to reward their owners generously and new 
mines opening rich, while real estate is booming, and everybody is 
hopeful and happy. The Herald-Democrat, Jan. i, 1887, speaks of 
the increased yield of gold, silver, lead, and iron, in 1886, as 
follows : — 

" The production of the Leadville mines during the past year 
aggregates 313,750,733. The amount is far in excess of the most 
sanguine estimates, showing a gain over the previous year of $1,393,- 
071. In addition to this, there is an excess of ore on hand at the 
Leadville smelters of about 25,000 tons, compared with Dec. 31, 
1885, possessing a value of over $1,000,000, which, by a proper 
system of calculating the output of a mining district, should be taken 
in consideration, and which would swell the total production to 
$14,750,733. It has, however, been the custom, in compiling the 
annual production of Leadville, to include only such items as repre- 
sent actual transactions and shipments, i.e., bullion shipped to the 
refiners, ore sent to smelters out of the city for reduction, and gold 
and silver bars sent to the L^nited States mints. Thus the full pro- 
duction of Leadville mines is not always accurately arrived at, but 
depends largely on the amount of ore on hand at the smelters, as 
compared with the previous years. At present the Leadville smelters 
carry a stock of about 50,000 tons of ore, against about 24,000 tons 
twelve months as:o." 



470 MAR I -ELS OF THE NEH' WEST. 

The same authority furnishes the followinc; tables: 



The Gkand Aggregate. 




LEAD IN 
TONS. 


SILVER IN 
OUNCES. 


GOLD IN 
OUNCES. 


VALUE. 


Bullion Production 

Miscellaneous Shipments . . 


25,962 
22,526 


4,569,013 
3,597,132 


22,504 
14,042 


$7,515,184.30 
6,135,585.00 


C.raiul Total 


48,488 


8,166,145 


36,546 


i3750,733-30 





The following table shows the production of each metal and the 
tons of ore shipped from Leadville to other points for treatment 
since 1877 : — 



Metals Classified. 


YEAR. 


TONS OF LEAD. 


OUNCES OF SILVER. 


OUNCES OF GOLD. 


TONS OF ORE. 


'877 

1878 

IS79 

I8SO 

I88I 

1882 

1883 

1884 

1885 

1886 


175 
2,324 
17,650 

33,551 
38,101 
43,024 
36,870 
35,296 
19,127 
25,962 


376,827 

450,476 

6,004,416 

8,999,399 
7,162,909 

7,273,249 
5,313,638 
5,720,904 
5,130,079 
4,566,013 


2,750 

897 

1,100 

1,688 
13,182 
16,413 
25,169 
27,617 
12,312 
22,504 


3,300 
15,840 
18,540 
12,410 

15,639 
90,102 
160,890 
112,805 
132,001 
138,335 


T(,tal 


252,080 


51,000,900 


123,641 


699,862 



The value of the total product of the Leadville district since i860 
is as follows : — 

i860 to 1879 $10,700,000 

1879 10,333.740 

1880 15,025,135 

1881 13,147,257 

1882 17,127,402 

1883 15,538,446 

1884 12,837,497 

1885 12,357,662 

1886 13-750,833 

Total $120,817,972 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



471 



Horace A. W. Tabor was a merchant in Leadville, selling such 
goods as miners required. One day two men called upon him, — 
August Rische and George T. Hook, — signifying that they had 
abandoned shoemaking for gold-hunting, and found themselves with- 
out money to prosecute their purpose. After considerable discussion 
about the mining business and future prospects, Tabor agreed to fur- 












FRYER HILL. 

nish them with an outfit, which would amount to about seventeen 
dollars each, and provide them food, for one-third interest in their 
discoveries. The two men went to work with a will, and when they 
had sunk a shaft twenty-six feet, mineral was found so rich that a 
wagon load of ore sold for two hundred dollars. They christened 
the mine Little Pittsburg, and Tabor became a rich man. Within 
four or five months they extracted three hundred and seventy-five 
thousand dollars (^375,000) from the mine, and purchased every 



472 MAR I ELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

available mine they could in the vicinity. The Minnemuck, near by, 
yielded one hundred and twelve thousand dollars {$ 1 1 2,000) in forty- 
nine days. At this juncture, the owners of the Little Pittsburg, 
New Discovery, Dives, and Minnemuck united their interests under 
the name of Little Pittsburg Consolidated Company, with capital 
stock of tiocuty millions ($20,000,000). From this time the yield was 
enormous. The productions of the mines belonging to this company 
amounted to the almost incredible sum of two millioji six hundred 
ninety-seven thousand Jive hundred thirty-four dollars and ni}iety-one 
cents ($2,697,534.91) within eighteen months. 

In the eleven months immediately preceding April i, 1880, the 
ore sold amounted to one million five hundred ninety thousand tzvo 
hundred thirteen dollars and eighty-one cents ($1,590,213.81). The 
profits were o?ie million tzvo hundred ninety-one thousand five hundred 
seventy-eight dollars and forty-seven cents ($1,291,578.47). 

The Chrysolite mine is another bonanza. After yielding more 
than half a million dollars within four or five months, it was united 
with several other valuable mines under the name of Chrysolite Con- 
solidated Company, with capital stock of ten millions ($10,000,000), 
swelling the amount of product, in a few months more, to one million 
five Jiundred ninety-four tJiousand three hundred sixty dollars and 
forty -seven cents ($1,594,360.47). 

The Little Chief was located by four poor, hard-working men, 
who took from it one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) within three 
or four months, and then sold it to J. V. Farwell, of Chicago, for 
three hundred thousand ($300,000). The total product of this mine 
to April I, 1880, was tivo million four hundred seventy-three thousand 
eight hundred fifty-seven dollars and ninety-eight cents ($2,473,857.98). 
When it was paying monthly dividends of one hundred thousand dol- 
lars, it was sold to a New York company with a capital stock of ten 
)n ill ion dollars ($10,000,000). 

The Amie is situated on the summit of Fryer Hill. It was dis- 
covered in the summer of 1879, and soon after the Amie Consolida- 
ted Mining Company was organized, with capital stock of five mil- 
lion ($5,000,000). . Within six months the yield amounted to half 
a million dollars. 

The Morning Star did not promise well at first, and was sold to 
Governor Routt. The energy and labor which he put into its 
development soon converted it into a bonanza. In the summer and 
autumn of 1879, its ]iroduct was tiuo hundred ninety thousand four 
hundred ninety-one dollars and twcntv-six cents ($290,491.26). In 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



473 




474 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

January, 1880, its yield was ^70,600 ; in February, $70,000 ; in March, 
$75,000; and in April the Morning Star Consolidated Mining Com- 
pany was organized, with a capital stock of six ifii/lions ($6,000,000). 

The Dunkin opened well in the summer of 1879, ^"^ i" ^^o or three 
months yielded $35,000, when it was sold to ex-Governor A. H. Rice 
and Hon. John B. Alley, of Massachusetts, and Hon. James G. Blaine, 
of Maine, for $300,000. The ore bodies of this mine range from one 
to twenty-seven feet in thickness, and the ore yields from fifty-eight 
to two hundred and seventy-four ounces per ton, and from ten to 
sixty per cent of lead. 

The following paragraph, interjected here from Fossett's "Colo- 
rado," furnishes important information respecting the ores of Lead- 
ville : — 

"The ores of Leadville district arc treated by smelting without 
roasting, nature having obviated the necessity of the latter. The 
same method has long been in use in Missouri, Utah, and elsewhere. 
Ores are smelted in what are known as water-jacket furnaces, con- 
structed of iron, of circular or square shape, six feet more or less in 
diameter, and of much greater height. They are lined internally 
with fire clay and rest on a cement and clay foundation. The ore is 
shovelled into the furnaces along with the necessary proportions of 
coke, charcoal, and slag, from a floor over that where the bullion is 
discharged, the furnaces being uprights and extending upwards 
through the building, with outlets for fumes and smoke above. The 
proper mixture of ores and fuel are important points to success, and 
the more refractory the ores the greater the care needed to avoid 
chilling the furnace and other troubles. Weighing the ores is one 
means of determining their character, as the per cent of lead can 
thus be approximated. The molten mass separates itself in the fur- 
nace according to its specific gravity, the lead with its silver con- 
tents settling into a lead well at the bottom and one side, from which 
it is dipped into iron moulds, where it cools into bars of about one 
hundred pounds weight. l'\irnaces are run night and day from one 
month's end to another ; to allow them to cool down w^ould entail 
a heavy expense in drilling out the mass of iron and slag that 
would have to be removed, and in fact would stop business com- 
pletely." 

But the most famous of all the mines of Leadville is the Robert 
E. Lee. It is claimed that no mine in the world ever yielded silver 
ores of so high a grade. It embraces about five acres of ground. 
The whole property was originally purchased for $7000. In August, 



MARVELS OF MINING. 47 S 

1879, work was pushed, and at the depth of one hundred and fifty 
feet the richest silver ore in the world was discovered. Other silver 
mines had surprised the most credulous ; but the unsurpassed rich- 
ness of this mine was well-nigh incredible to many. The first three 
months four hundred ninety-five thousand dollars ($495,000) were 
taken out. In October, one Jiundred tiventy-five tJiousand dollars 
($125,000) were taken out in ten days, the ore yielding 520 ounces 
of silver per ton. In January, 1880, the yield reached the extraor- 
dinary amount of tJiree Jiundred one thousand four Jiundred ninety- 
four dollars and seventy-nine cents ($301,494.79). On the 13th day of 
January, 1880, there were taken out in twenty-four hours $118,500, 
the average of the ore being $1200 a ton. Two tons yielded 23,678 
ounces of silver, or 11,839 oi^mces per ton. From the middle of 
August, 1879, to Feb i, 1880, one million dollars were taken from 
the mine. 

Mr. Kent says : " On the 3d of January, six out of the seven 
owners inspected the mine and gazed in wonderment upon the 
astounding wealth of recent developments. Mr. Sigafus, one of the 
owners and resident manager of the mine, offered his partners his 
check for $10,000 to be permitted to work for one hour upon a 
certain spot in the floor of one level where the rich crevice was 
exposed, agreeing to work with a pick only, and within lines drawn 
about a foyr-foot square. Pennock & Roudebush offered $200,000 
for the privilege of working twenty men upon a shift for thirty-six 
hours, in a certain other named locality, and own the ore they could 
raise to the surface in that space of time. Both these offers were 
declined." 

In conversation with a citizen of Leadville, who showed us valu- 
able attention, we remarked : — 

" It will not take long to exhaust many of these mines, I sup- 
pose." 

" Not in your day, nor mine," he replied. " At first, it was sup- 
posed that a few months or years would exhaust even the best of 
them, but recent developments assure us that all such fears are 
groundless." 

" Then new mines are being opened almost daily," we suggested. 

"Yes, and we have only just begun to explore the earth beneath 
us," he continued. " Only a small per cent of our mineral lands are 
worked as yet. Science and experience are teaching us to mine 
more economically and profitably every year ; and we shall be able to 
accumulate larger profits in future for this reason." 



4/6 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

"We can scarcely expect to discover another Leadville," we inter- 
jected. 

"Not so sure about that," he answered. "The best authorities 
say, from personal examination, that the Rocky Mountains are full of 
precious metals. I should not be surprised if another Leadville 
were discovered any day. Prospectors have as much encouragement 
to persevere in their work now as they ever had ; and, indeed, I 
think they have more reason to be hopeful and expect great strikes 
than they had ten years ago." 

"Well, I am glad to hear these views," we replied ; " for, with 
Eastern people generally, I have supposed that the mining business 
was temporary as well as very uncertain. But I am fast getting 
enlightened. I have seen enough already to satisfy me that the 
poorest part of our territory — the Rocky Mountains — is the rich- 
est ; and that the time is not distant when there will be more 
millionnaires in the New West than in all the rest of the country." 

" I am not sure but that is the fact already," my friend replied ; 
"at least, including those who get their riches here, but live else- 
where." 

" I suppose you will go down into a mine while you are here," 
remarked a citizen of whom we were making inquiries. " To omit 
that in your visit to this mining camp would be the play of Hamlet 
with Hamlet left out." 

"Well, yes, I should like to explore one of these mines," we 
replied. " Are visitors admitted at any time } " 

" Not exactly. Some of them do not admit visitors at all ; others 
admit them at specified times. I think the Morning Star admits them 
at any time, and that is one of the best mines to visit. If you never 
went down through a shaft into the bowels of the earth, it will be a 
great novelty to you." 

" No particular danger, I suppose," we responded ; " if there were, 
so many men would not be ready to go down to their work daily." 

"No, no great danger; accidents sometimes happen, and they do 
on the surface of the earth," our friend replied. "They will provide 
you with a suit of clothes, without much regard to style or personal 
appearance ; for it is a wet, nasty place through which you descend 
into a larger and dirtier world below. You will scarcely know your- 
self when you are arrayed for the adventure ; you will /ool- extremely 
comical, whether you feel so or not." 

"Well, I think I will try one of the mines," we added; "I shall 
scarcely feel satisfied to return to tlie ICast without seeing the inside 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



477 



of a mine. To come two thousand miles to see a mine, and then not 
see one, won't pay." 

An hour afterwards we were on our way to the Morning Star, 
when we met a good-looking man of middle age, whom we accosted. 

"Are you a citizen of Leadville, sir } " we asked. 

" Yes, sir ; I am one of the pioneers ; came here with the rush 
five years ago," he answered very cordially. 

" I propose to go down into a mine, and started for the Morning 
Star," we continued. "Am I in the right way .'' " 

"Yes, you are right ; and if you want to descend into a mine, you 
may ; but I don't," he answered. 

"Then you are not connected with the mining business.?" 




" No, I am a trader ; and I have never been down into a mine 
since I have lived here, and never expect to." 

" You surprise me," we replied ; " I supposed that nearly every- 
body in Leadville had explored one or more mines." 

" Quite the contrary ; some of us think too much of our lives to 
make the adventure until we are compelled to. It is a wet, nasty, 
dangerous feat, and I rather be excused." 

" How is that .? I was not aware that there was any particular 
peril to life or limb," we added. 

" Perhaps there is not ; but my taste is not in that direction," said 
the stranger smilingly. "To ride in a bucket down into the earth 
five hundred or a thousand feet has no attractions for me." 



4/8 MARVELS OF THE NEW If EST. 

By this time the adventure had little attractions for us, and we 
thanked the outspoken man for his kindly words, and passed on. ]^ut 
we did not reach the Morning Star. We concluded to leave Hamlet 
out of the play. What if I should not know myself when arrayed for 
the descent into regions below, and, being among strangers, no one 
there to introduce me ! What if I should more than fill the bucket 
and slop over ! More than two thousand miles from home, and five 
hundred feet from daylight ! We concluded that we should live just 
as long, if not longer, by continuing our life on the earth's surface. 

PROFITS OF MINING. 

In 1 88 1 a competent party made the following estimate of the 
profits of mining in Colorado : — 

" I. The population of the State of Colorado is 195,234. 

" 2. The number of the population of the State who are voters is 
53.420. 

" 3. It is not reasonable to suppose that more than one-third of 
the men in the State are engaged in mining and smelting. This 
number would be 17,804. 

" 4. Supposing that they labor during an average of two hundred 
days in the year at $2.00 per day, this would give as the cost of the 
total production of the State $7,121,600. 

" 5. Add to this interest on improvements amounting to S20,ooo,- 
000 at six per cent — equal to $1,200,000 — and we find the total 
cost to be $8,321,600. 

" 6. But the total production of the precious metals in Colorado 
during the year 1880 was $24,000,000. 

" 7. It follows, then, that after paying the cost of labor and six 
per cent interest on the money invested in plans for mining and re- 
duction, there was a profit remaining of $15,678,400. 

" 8. It is thus shown that the average cost of producing a gold 
or silver dollar in Colorado during the past year was less than forty 
cents." 

Experience, improvement in machinery, and other facilities have 
reduced the expense of mining, so that good authorities claim that a 
dollar, gold or silver, costs but thirty-three cents. During the five 
years that have elapsed since the above estimate for 1880, Colorado's 
outfit of gold, silver, lead and copper, has been over o/ic lumdrcd mil- 
Hoji dollars ($100,000,000). The cost of gathering this harvest has 
been tJiirty-iJnrc million dollars ($33,000,000), leaving a profit to the 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



479 



State of sixty-seven million dollars ($67,000,000). As the output of 
the State has been over txvo hundred thirty-nine million dollars 
($239,000,000), since the rush to Pike's Peak in 1859, ^^"'^ profit, allow- 
ing forty cents to be the cost of a dollar, would amount to more than 
one Juindred fifty-three million dollars ($153,000,000). Allowing the 
cost of a dollar to be thirty-three cents, the profits would reach 
nearly one hundred sixty million dollars ($160,000,000). 

The mining product of Colorado from 1881 to 1887 was as fol- 
lows : — 



881 



884 
885 
886 

Total 

Th 
lows : 
1876 
1877 
1878 
1879 
1880 



^22,203, 508.72 
26,750,898.00 
26,376,562.00 
20,250,000.00 



22,500,000.00 

26,794,688.00 

)t5i44,876,656.72 

e mining product of Colorado from 1876 to 1880 was as fol- 



$6,191,907.82 

7,216,283.53 

10,008,116.00 

19,110,862.00 

23,500,000.00 

Total $66,027,169.35 

From the discovery of gold in Colorado to 1887, the output has 
been as follows : — 



Mining Product of Colorado from 1859 to 1887. 


YEAR. 


GOLD. 


SILVER. 


COPPER. 


LEAD. 


TOTAL. 




Dollars. 


Dollars. 


Dollars. 


Dollars. 


Dollars. 


Prior to 1870 


27,213,081.00 


330,000.00 


40,000.00 




27,583,081.00 


1870 .... 


2,000,000.00 


650,000.00 


20,000.00 




2,680,000.00 


1871 


2,000,000.00 


1,029,046.00 


30,000.00 




3,059,046.00 


1872 .... 


1,725,000.00 


2,015,000.00 


45,000.00 


5,000.00 


3,790,000.00 


1873 


1,750,000.00 


2,185,000.00 


65,000.00 


28,000.00 


4,028,000.00 


1874 .... 


2,002,487.00 


3,096,023.00 


90,197.00 


73,676.00 


5,262,383.00 


1875 


2,161,475.00 


3,122,912.00 


90,000.00 


60,000.00 


5,434,387.02 


1876 .... 


2,726,315.82 


3,315,592.00 


70,000.00 


80,000.00 


6,191,907.82 


1877 


3,148,707.56 


3,726,379.33 


93,796.64 


247,400.00 


7,216,283.53 


1878 .... 


3,490,384.36^ 6,341,807.81 


89,000.00 


636,924.73 


10,558,116.90 



48o 



MAKIKI.S OF THE NEW UEST. 





.MiNiNi; I'KomcT of Colorai 


X> FRO.M 1859 TO 


1887 — Continue 


i. 


\EAR. 


COLD. 


SILVER. 


COPPER. 


LEAD. 


TOTAU 




Dollars. 


Dollars. 


Dolla 


rs. 


Dollars. 


Dollars. 


IS79 .... 


3.193,500.00 


15,385,000.00 






532,362.00 


19,110,862.00 


iSSo .... 


3,206,500.00 18,615,000.00 






1,678,500.00 


23,500,000.00 


1881 .... 










22,203,508.72 


1SS2 .... 












26,750,898.00 


1883 












26,376,562.00 


1S84 












20,250,000.00 


1SS5 .... 












22,500,000.00 


1S86 .... 












26,794,688.00 


Citand Total 












265,874.656.72 



Table showing- the stancHn-;- of fifteen of the be.^t pa^-ini;- mi 
in Colorado, fan. i, 1885: — 



NAMl'l OF MINIC. 






DIVIUKNDS PAID TO 
DArii. 


Little Pittsburg 

Bassick Mining Company .... 
Chrysolite 


200,000 
100.000 
200,000 
500,000 
200,000 
200,000 
200,000 
400,000 

50,000 
200,000 
250,000 
100,000 
200,000 

65,000 
500,000 


$20,000,000 
10,000,000 
10,000,000 

10.000,000 

1 0.000,000 
5,000,000 
2,000,000 
4,000,000 
500,000 

10,000.000 
5,000,000 
1,000,000 
2,000,000 
1,625,000 
5,000,000 


$1,050,000 

425,000 

1 ,650,000 

1,320,000 

760,000 

220,2.2 

610,000 

390,000 

1,400,000 

700,000 

800,000 

740,000 

550,000 

25I.S75 

3;,o.ocxT 




Little Chief 


La Plata 


Leadville Consulidated 

Evening Star 

Robinson Ctmsoliilated 




Moose Mining Company 

Colorado Consolidated 

.\n)ie Cmwolidatcd 



'mi'. M.\RiiH)SA Ksr.vn:. 

When California was under the dominion oi Me.xieo. this estate 
was a grant by the Me.xican government to Juan H. Alvarado, and it 
was pnrcha.sed by Fremont in 1847. When, a year later, it passed 



MARVI'lLS Ol' MINING. 48 1 

into the possession of the United States, l'"reniont presented Ids 
claim to the United States land commission, and it was confirmed in 
I'^ebruary, 1^56, and tiie patent issued. Liti<;ation followed, so that 
it was not until 1859 that Fremont came into full possession of the 
large property, which embraces an area of seventy miles square, or 
44,380 acres. It extends twelve miles from east to west, and twelve 
and one-half miles from north to south. It includes the towns of 
Mariposa, Bridgeport, Ciuadalupe, Aikansas, I^'lat, Uower Agua I^'ria, 
Princeton, Mount Ophir, and Hear Valley. 

As soon as h'remoiit's title was fully establislK-d, mining began on 
the property and the yield of gold was very large. The monthly 
production in i860 was $39,500; in 1861, JS53,000; in 1862, notwith- 
standing the great flood which interrupted mniing for a time, $43,- 
500; and in the first five months of 1863, $77,000. In March, 1863, 
$94,000 were taken out; in April, $92,000; and in May, $101,000. 
From that time the average monthly production amounted to about 
$100,000, with the promise of a still larger yield. Mining engineers 
prophesied the most marvellous results. One of them, Dr. J. Adel- 
berg, said, in a report : — 

*' In regard to the value of the veins, I can say no more than that 
their yield in precious metal is limited only by the amoinit of work 
done in them ; but I recollect Mr. Fremont once commissioning me 
to make an estimate as to their endurance in the limits of the longi- 
tudinal extent now opened. I iouiul by calculation that they would 
yield ff)r 388 years 100 tons daily, without the requisition of pumps. 
I mean down to the water level." 

In Decemi)er, 1862, Timothy C. Allen made a report ujjon the 
property, and said that the yield might be increased $I00,000 
monthly. Messrs. Makely & Garnett thought the property might 
readily be worked so as to yield $220,000 monthly, at an expense of 
only $50,000, leaving $170,000 the net monthly income. 

These reports added to the fame of the Maripo.sa mines, and just 
then a company was organized in New York City to work them, 
with a capital stock of ten viillion dollars ($10,000,000). The com- 
pany was formed by T'remont's creditors, who took a mortgage upon 
\.\\<i ^xQ^'c\'^\j U)x fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000). Through mis- 
management, the company ran into debt each month, notwithstand- 
ing the large production of the mines. At that time the pro])erty 
contained more than a thousand auriferous quartz veins, only thirty 
of them" worked, and these only partially. The five months im- 
mediately preceding the organization of the aforesaid company, 



482 MARl'ELS OF THE NEIV IVEST. 

the property yielded t/ircc hiiudird cigltty-fivc thousand dollars 
($385,000). 

The Princeton was one of the mines on the Fremont grant, and 
yielded ninety tliousand dollars ($90,000) a month for a time ; and 
this was more than any other mine in California ever did. In 
five months of i860 (from June i to Nov. i), the mine yielded 
five Jiundred tivcnty-scvoi thousand six hundred thirty-three dollars 
(;^527,633). In 1862 and 1863 its output was two million dollars 
($2,000,000). In 1864 the yield amounted to tzvo Jiundred forty-three 
thousand seven hundred seven dollars ($243,707). Within seven 
or eight years after Fremont's title to the estate was established, 
more than fojir inillio7i dollars ($4,000,000) were taken out. 

The Oso mine proved very rich, and/<?//r Jiundred thousand dollars 
($400,000) were taken from a shaft fifty feet deep and seven feet 
long on the vein. 

The output of the Princeton, Mariposa, Pine Tree, and Josephine 
mines, in i860, was $474,000; in 1861, $642,000; in 1862, $522,000; 
in 1863, $385,000, with $50,000 net per month; in 1864, $481,832, 
and in 1865, $230,000. 

The Sonora produced $80,000 in May, 1865 ; in June, $84,000 ; in 
July, $95,000; in August, $102,000; in September, $91,000. 

The total production of the Kincaid Flat to 1867 was tzvo million 
dollars ($2,000,000). 

Litigation stopped mining on the Mariposa estate, and left the 
property and buildings to idleness and decay. The director of the 
mint at Washington says, in his last report : — 

" The affairs of the company became embarrassed, principally by 
bad management, and a long and vexatious litigation ensued which 
had the effect of closing the mines. During this period the machinery 
rusted, the buildings rotted, the shafts filled, and the tunnels and 
drifts caved, towns were nearly depopulated, and mining camps 
abandoned. 

" This litigation having reached the highest courts, both State 
and Federal, and been disposed of finally in the State Supreme Court, 
it is anticipated that operations may soon be resumed." 

It is claimed that Fremont realized from this Mariposa property 
one million dollars. 



MARVELS OF MINING. 483 



THE MOTHER LODE. 

This Lode, much of which is covered by the Fremont grant, is 
regarded as the most remarkable metalhferous vein in the world. 
J. Ross Brown, in his report to the United States Government, says 
of it : — 

"Others have producetl and are producing more, but no other has 
been traced so far, has so many peculiar features, has exercised so 
much influence on the topography of the country about it, or has 
been worked with a profit in so many places. The great orgen- 
tiferous lodes of Mexico and South America, the most productive 
of precious metal of all known in history, can be followed not more 
than six or eight miles; while the Californian vein is distinctly trace- 
able on the surface from Marij^osa to the town of Amador, a distance 
of more than sixty miles." 

"The chief peculiarities of the mother lode are its great length, 
its great thickness, its uniform character, the near proximity of large 
companion veins, of which at least one is usually talcose, and the 
richness of the takH)se veins. In reply to questions about the chief 
distinguishing feature of the mother lode, the miners engaged in 
working various mines gave very (hfferent answers. One said it was 
the presence of a belt of green stone on the eastern side. Another 
thought it was a black putty gouge. A third spoke first of the occur- 
rence of places as smooth as glass on the walls. Another considered 
the mother lode to consist of two branches, one the luminated, the 
other the bowlder branch. The former is usually on the west side ; 
the latter has the most curves. The lode is richest where the two 
meet. Another still says the mother lode is a series of branches, 
sometimes a dozen in number, covering a width that varies from fi\'e 
hundred to three thousand feet, with a greenstone porphyry wall on 
the east, and dioritic porphyry wall on the west." 

The mint director at Washington says of it : — 

" It is, however, within the limits of Amador County that the 
mother lode makes its greatest presentation within deiincd wall 
structure and has been worked to the greatest profit. The Zeile, 
Keystone, and Plymouth consolidated companies are at present the 
most productive, the last named having yielded $600,000 in dividends 
during the year 1884 from the operations of their eighty-stamp mill. 
The above-mentioned mines have each a depth of one thousand feet 
or more, and have many years of reserves developed. The great slate 



484 MAR I 'ELS OF THE .VEIV I TEST. 

belt is found north of the Cosiimnes River, in El Dorado County, but 
it here ceases to have the distinctive appellation of 'Mother Lode.'" 

Sierra has developed into one of the richest quartz regions of the 
State. Notably among the reported quartz discoveries are the New 
River deposits of Trinity County, which have been, however, but 
partially developed. Many of these show high grade ore, and are 
found in geological formations which indicate permanency. The 
surrounding conditions are excellent, as the country is well watered 
and heavily timbered. 

" Prior to the discoveries in San Bernardino County three years 
ago, silver mining in California was prosecuted with but little success ; 
but since then it has steadily increased in importance. During the 
past year the recorded mines have kept up an increased supply of 
silver bullion, while many new properties have been located. 

******** 

" In addition to the great wealth of gold which California contin- 
ues to pour in the world's coffers, and her vast reserves of silver only 
now beginning to yield their wealth, other useful minerals and metals 
abound m a variety probably unsurpassed ; and as manv of them 
have an influence on the production and refining of the precious metals, 
a brief mention of them may not be inappropriate." 

SOME OF THE RICHEST MINES OF (WLIFORNTA. 

The Sheep Ranch mine, in Calaveras County, was discovered in 
1865, and has been a large-paying mine ever since. It enriched its 
locators, who finally sold it for a fabulous price to parties who have 
worked it on a larger scale. It pays $18,000 per month. 

The Standard mine, Mono County, has been a great producer. 
Although the year 1884 was considered dull, the mine turned out 
$26yjy7.i6 in gold, and $36,517.60 in silver. Total, 5304,294.76. 
This mine was opened in 1877, since which time its production has 
reached the enormous sum of Aw Diillion dollars ($10,000,000). 

The Bodie Free Press, under date of Feb. 14, 1885, gives the fol- 
lowing statement of the grand total of bullion shipments of the 
Bodie district for the year 1884 : — 

Standard Consolidated $304,294.76 

Bodie Consolidated 617,310.18 

Syndicate 155,244.36 

New Stand.-ird 17,714.76 

Bodie Tunnel 2,075.90 

Wagner's Tailings, mill 17,600.00 



MARVELS OF MINING. 485 

Virginia Creek Hydraulic Company $21,300.00 

Scattering 8,630.00 

I5oclie ore 714.00 

Total $ 1, 1 44,883. f/) 

I'hc Idaho ciiiartz mine, in the famou.s Nevada County, yielded 
1^364,599.85, in 1883, and ^561,895.49, in 1884. The dividends in the 
latter year amounted to {^27 1,250. 

The principal mine of the l^loomfield district, Nevada County, 
belongs to the North I^loomhekl Minini;- Company, and they report 
the product for 1884 $483,187.57. 

The Eureka, in IMumas County, yields $35,000 per month, on the 
average, and promises more largely to-day than ever. 

Three years ago there was discovered in this county one of the 
most remarkable mines of California. It was at Eagle Gulch, and 
the Greenville Bulletin said of it : — 

"The recent strike at Eagle (iulch is something so great that a 
bare statement of facts would read like the wildest romance. One 
of the owners of the mine witii a hannner and chisel cut out one solid 
lump of gold worth $2,700. When the ledge was struck in the lower 
tunnel, a man who was at work there was sent off some little distance 
on a message. l)iu-ing his absence his employer took out $10,000. 
It is a common thing to find from $200 to $300 in a single pan of 
dirt. The ledge is nearly fifty feet wide, all of which is good milling- 
ore. The extremely rich vein is about three feet wide, 'i'his mine 
at Eagle Gulch is to-day the greatest mine in the State. To illus- 
trate how fortimes are missed and made in mining, it may be stated 
that a short time ago a mine operator of great e.\|)erience went and 
examined the property. It was offered to him for $75,000, and he 
refused it. Not long afterward that much coidtl be taken out in little 
mcjre than a week." 

The Sierra Buttes, in Sierra County, has been worked fourteen 
years, and the net profits have reached nearly $100,000 annually. 

The Plymouth Consolidated, of Amador County, reports as fol- 
lows : — 

Clold bullion produced by the mines of this company for 1884 ,$1,033,518.29 

Operating expenses 331,163.84 

I'rwI't 702,354.45 

Twelve monthly dividends, of $50,000 each, were paid, amounting to . . 600,000.00 



Surplus over operating expenses and dividends 102,354.45 

Add surplus on hand Jan. i, 1884 44,559.96 

Total surplus $146,914.41 



486 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

The mines at Forest Hill, in Placer County, yielded from 1859 to 
1867, as follows: The Dardanelles, 32,000,000; the Jenny Lind, 
$1,100,000; the New Jersey, $850,000; the Independence, $450,000; 
the Deidesheimer, $650,000 ; five other mines, $250,000 each ; and 
the Alabama, $150,000. These mines are worked still, some of them 
continuing the average yield, especially the Dardanelles. 

The most expensive placer mining field in Nevada County was 
examined by Professor Silliman and M. Laur, a French engineer of 
mines, and both agreed as to the vast amount of wealth deposited 
therein. M. Laur said that if $12,000,000 were extracted annually 
from the region, it would take five hundred and twenty-four years to 
exhaust it within a single mile. At the base of Sugar Loaf, there 
were taken out eight million dollars ($8,000,000) previous to 1867. 

The Grass Valley district, in Nevada County, to which we have 
already referred as yielding largely in 1883 and 1884, was even more 
prolific in its early history. Professor Silliman reported in March, 
1865, that the gold product to that time amounted to tzucnty-t/nre 
million dollars ($23,000,000). The Eureka paid $50,000 per month for 
several years, and is still a paying mine. The Gold Hill paid $4,000,- 
000 in fourteen years ; and the Massachusetts Hill, $3,000,000 in ten 
years. 

The following extract from the last report of the director of the 
mint at Washington shows remarkable production : — 

"The shipment of gold from Bodie district, Mono County, amounted 
for the year 1884 to over a million dollars, the output of each mine 
and locality in and about that district being given below : — 

Standard Consolidated $305,274.03 

Bodie Consolidated 61 7,939-49 

Syndicate 171,049.56 

New Standard 17,714.76 

Bodie Tunnel 2,075.90 

Wagner's Tailings, mill 17,600.00 

Virginia Creek Hydraulic Company 21,300.00 

Scattering 8,630.00 

Bodie Ore, dump pile 714.00 

Total ^1,162,297.74 

"The total value of bullion, mostly gold, sent from Bodie district 
up to the present time, amounts to about $17,000,000. 

" Following is the record of the two leading mines of the dis- 
trict : — 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



487 



Total output of the Standard Consolidated to Dee. 31, 1884. 

1877 ^784,522.80 

1878 • . 1,025,383.35 

1879 1,448,835.47 

1880- 1,858,763.46 

1881 2,131,458.87 

1882 1,258,056.80 

1883 1,155,181.83 

1884 304,294.76 

Total ^9,966,507.29 

Total output of Bodie Consolidated Mine to Dee. 31, 1884. 

1878 ^1,042,236.80 

1879 764,067.12 

1880 429,817.80 

18S1 366,105.14 

1882 484,890.48 

1883 246,820.10 

1884 617,310.18 

Total $3,951,247.62 

Table showing shares, capital, and aggregate dividends of ten 
most valuable mines in California, Jan. i, 1885, with time last divi- 
dend was paid : — 



NAME OF MINE. 


SHARES. 


CAPITAL. 


DIVIDEND. 


LAST DIVIDEND PAID. 


Black Bear, etc 

Bodie Consolidated, etc. . . . 

Excelsior, etc 

Idaho Mining Company . . . 
Plymouth Consolidated, etc. . 

Plumas Eureka, etc 

Sierra Buttes, etc 

Standard Consolidated, etc. . 
North Bloomfield, etc. .... 
New York Hill Gold, etc. . . 


100,000 
100,000 
100,000 
3,100 
100,000 
40,625 
22,500 
100,000 
45,000 
50,000 


$3,000,000 

10,000,000 

10,000,000 

310,000 

5,000,000 

406,200 

225,000 

10,000,000 

4,500,000 

5,000,000 


$887,000 
1,607,500 

875,000 
3,620,800 

950,000 
1,741,223 
1.375.352 
4,450,000 

225,000 

215,000 


Dec. 28, 1884 
Dec. 5, 1884 
Oct. 6, 1880 
Dec. 15, 1884 
Dec. 5, 1884 
Oct. 10, 1884 
Oct. 10, 1884 
JNIar. 12, 1884 
Nov. 5, 1880 
Aug. 10, 1882 



NUGGETS. 



The term "nugget" is applied to a mass or lump of gold of unu- 
sual size and weight. Nuggets are found more or less in all gold- 
fields. The larsrest ones have been found in the gold-fields of Vic- 



488 



MARVELS OF THE A'EIi' I TEST. 



toria, Australia. The so-called Welcome nugy;et, weighing over 182 
troy pounds, was found at Bakery Hill, Ballarat, in 1858. Another — 
the "Blanche Barkley nugget" — weighed 146 pounds, and only six 
ounces was rock. The largest California nugget was found at Car- 
son Hill, in Calaveras County, and weighed 108 pounds, four pounds of 
it being quartz. Speaking of "bars and nuggets," a writer says : — 

"The first piece of gold found in California was worth fifty cents, 
and the second $5. Since that time one nugget has been found 
worth $43,000; two, $21,000; one, $10,000; two, SS.ooo ; one, 
$6,500; four, $5,000; twelve, worth from $3,000 to $4,000, and 
eighteen, worth from $1,000 to $2,000 have been found and recorded 
in the history of the State. In addition to the above, numberless 
nuggets worth from $100 to $500 are mentioned in the annals of 
California gold mining during the last thirty years. From the date 
of the discovery of gold in California to the present time, the yield 
has been about $1,200,000,000, therefore it is very easy to see the 
small figure that nuggets cut in the gold yield. Big nuggets are 
very fine things to show, but after all it is the fine gold — the dust — 
that shows up. Although ten years younger than California, and a 
producer of a less precious metal, Nevada has yielded in good solid 
silver bars nearly $300,000,000. 

The director of the mint at Washington furnishes the following 
table, showing the weight and value of the principal California nug- 
jiets, together with the localitv where, and the time wlien found: — 



1854 
• 854 

1864 
1876 



'855 
1851 



Calaveras County. Ounces. 

Carson Hill, near Angel's Camp quartz vein, 195 lbs., 

4 lbs. quartz 2,340 

Camp Seco, Stone Cabin Gulch. Frank Russworm . 93 

Mokelumne River. Said to weigh from 20 to 25 lbs. . 

Placer County. 
Michigan Bluffs, two miles distant on the American 



River . . 










226 


Tolar Star Claim, 


Dutch 


Flat, from a 


vhite 


(juartz 




bowlder . . 














Sierra 


County. 


















532 
426 


French Ravine 











VALVE Al'- 
PROXl.MATELV. 



$43,534-00 
1,760.00 



4,204.00 
5,760.00 



10,000.00 

S.ooo.oo 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



489 



Sierra County — Continued. 

[850 French Ravine 

[860 French Ravine 

1864 Smith's Flat 

1869 Little Grizzly 

Hope Claim 

1866 Smith's Flat 

i860 Monumental Quartz, Sierra Buttes (W. A. Farrish) 
1854-^ Live Yankee Claim, Forest City, twelve nuggets, from 

1862 i 30 to 170 ounces , . 

1861 Smith's Flat 

Oregon Claim, Forest City, nuggets, from 30 to 100 

ounces . 

Minnesota 

Dutte County. 

Willard Claim, west branch of the Feather; weight 54 

lbs. before melting, and 49 lbs. after melting . . . 

West branch Feather, near Magalia. (Morrison) . 

West branch Feather, near Magalia 

Shasta County. 
Banghart Mine, Mad Mule Canon, crystalline. (Cooper) 

Nevada County. 

Remington Hill, estimated to weigh 

Remington Hill 

Lowell Hill 

Siskiyou County. 
De Groots, Terry, and Klamath rivers 

El Dorado County. 

[849 Illinois Cafion, near Georgetown 

1850 Georgia Slide, Hudson's Gulch 

[850 Oregon Canon, supposed to be the Fay nugget . . . 

Kelsey, or near it; date not stated 

1857 Manhattan Creek, near Georgetown 

[857 Garden Valley. Found by Samuel Treeworgee . . . 

1865 Spanish Dry Diggings. Grit Claim, dendritic gold 
(Fricot's specimen) 

1867 Pilot Hill. Bowlder of gcl.l quartz . ...... 



1862 
1865 



1855 
1867 



Ounces. 
263 

93 
140 
107 

94 

146 

1,596 

r 30 

L 170 



100 
266 



186 
128 
58 



VALUE AP- 
PROXIMATELY 



$4,893.00 
1,757.00 
2,605.00 
2,000.00 
1,770.00 
2,716.00 

17,655.00 



1,509.00 



5,000.00 



1,607.00 
1,760.00 

248.00 



3,500.00 
2,400.00 



2,437.00 





1,000.00 




1,000.00 




1,250.00 




4,700.00 




525.00 


101.40 


3,500.00 


426 


8,000.00 



490 



MARl'ELS OF THE A'EW I TEST. 



DATE. 


.oc.uxv. 




\.\LrE AF- 
PKOXIMATELY. 




£1 Dorado County — Continued. 


Ounces. 




iS6o 


Spanish Dry Diggings, Pennsylvania Seam, 2^ lbs. . 


36 


$5,000.00 


1854 


Spanish Dry Diggings, near the Grit Seam. (Texas & 








Jacobs) 




1,100.00 




Tuolumne County. 






1848 


Wood's Creek below Sonora 


900 




Knapp's Ranch, east of Columbia. A slab-shaped 






mass, I4"x 9"x 5", which, with other fragments . . 


396+ 


8,500.00 


1849 
1849 


Sullivan's Creek, 28 lbs 


40S 
360 


7,590.00 
6.500.00 


Gold Hill, near Columbia 




Spring Gulch, near Columbia. (Globular form) . . 




5,000.00 


1S50 


Holden's Garden, Sonora. A mass of quartz and gold 




30,00000 


1853 


Columbia 


2S3 


5,265.00 



One of the largest and finest gold nuggets ever unearthed in Cali- 
fornia has recently been on exhibition in San Francisco. It is about 
the size of an ordinary Derby hat, weighs thirtv-five pounds, and is 
worth about six thousand dollars. Great " gobs 
of its sides. 



ARIZONA. 

More than two hundred years ago the Spaniards worked the 
mines in what is now the territory of Arizona, and carried away mil- 
lions and millions of dollars. Baron Humboldt, and others, say that 
" masses of virgin silver, weighing from twenty to as high as two hun- 
dred and eighty-four pounds " were sent to the Spanish Crown for 
tribute. Cozzens, in his "Three years in Arizona, etc.," says : — 

" If the reader is sufficiently curious to visit the old Custom House 
at Guavmas, in Sonora, these statements can be substantiated by 
reference to the records found there. Among the archives therein 
contained is rather a remarkable one. establishing the fact that, in 
1683, the king's attorney brought suit to recover from the proprietor 
of the Real del Carmen mine, one Don Roderigo Gandera, a mass of 
virgin silver, taken by him from his mine, weighing tzvctity-cig/it 
Inmdrcd pounds, which the officer claimed as belonging to the king 
because it was a curiosity ; and all curiosities taken from the soil, of 
whatever kind or nature, belong to His Most Gracious Majesty." 



MARVJ'ILS OF MINING. 49 ' 

This is the largest nugi^et the world ever reeorded. The king 
who brought action to recover it named the country in wliich it was 
found Arizuma, which means silver-bearing. From this was derived 
its present name. 

There is no ciucstion about the great wealth of the yVrizona mines; 
and the chief reason why they have not been worked more extensively 
is because the cruel and barbarous Apaches massacred the parties mak- 
ing the attempt. The mines are located in the western and northern 
part of the territory, just where the Apaches can conveniently raid 
them. As an e.\am])le, the Patagonia mine was worked by Spaniards 
in 1760; in 1820 the Apaches massacred every miner who did not 
f^ee, and the mine was not only abandoned, but forgotten. In 1856 
it was rediscovered, a company organized, smelting-houses, reduction 
works, dwellings, and storehouses erected, and a marvellously lucra- 
tive business inaugurated. P)iit when the company was making an 
actual daily profit of froi// iicclvc lo fifteoi hundred dollars , the 
Apaches stole all the stock of the company, mui'dered the sujjerin- 
tendent and many of the miners, and put a speedy end to further 
business in that mine, i'^rom that thiy the mine has not been worked, 
and the buildings and machinery have gone to decay. While there is 
less peril to miners in that ctnmtry to-day, it is still true that the 
Apaches are a terror to the country, and doubtless will continue to 
be until the government effectually conquers or destroys them, for 
which we most devoutly pray. 

True, the isolation of the country, being without a port of entry, 
and more than a thousand miles from the nearest supply-point, at 
the time of the last raid of the Apaches on the Patagonia mine, was 
a great hindrance to successful mining. A steam-engine for the 
mine was drawn by mules from I.avacca, Te.\., fourteen hundred 
miles ; also a boiler weighing six thousand pfninds. Now, of course, 
since the Territory has been penetrated by railroads, this isolation is 
a thing of the past ; but the terrible .savages remain "creation's 
blot." ' 

1^. J. i^'armer says, in his " Resources of the Rocky Mountains," 
issued in 1883 : — 

" The mineral resources of Arizona, like those of the entire region 
of the Rockies, are only just beginning to be known ; and yet the 
production of the Territory, in gold, silver, copper, and lead, for 1882, 
was $1 1,700.000. giving Arizona the fourth place in the list. As the 
Territory is full of mountains, so do the mountains seem to be full of 
mineral ; and gold, silver, copper, lerd, coal, and salt have been dis- 



492 MAR I -ELS OF THE NEIV If EST. 

covered. Gold, here, is mostly found in veins of quartz ; sometimes 
it is combined with iron and copper pyrites, while from placers in the 
beds of some streams, it is collected in a pure state. Silver is found 
here in nearly all its combinations ; as carbonates, sulphurets, chlo- 
rides, bromides, silver-glance, and as pure metal. The proportion of 
rich galena ores, as compared with those of Colorado, is extremely 
small, yet of other silver combinations there are an abundance. The 
copper deposits of Arizona are probably the finest on the continent, 
the Lake Superior region not excepted. Mining may be said to 
have recommenced in this portion of New Spain in i860; for the 
precious metals have been known to exist here for more than two 
hundred years, and were mined at that time by the Spaniards." 

From the same authority we learn that the famous Tombstone 
district was yielding, when he wrote, _^Tr hundred thousand dollars 
($500,000) monthly. There are more than twenty famous mines in 
this district, which extends five miles from north to south, and eight 
from east to west ; each one capitalized for from two to ten million 
dollars. 

The output of the Contention Consolidated for 1882 was one uiil- 
liou eight Jinndred fourteen tJiousand dollars ($1,814,000). 

The output of the Grand Central, for the same time, was one mil- 
lion three hundred fifty-eigJit thousand dollars ($1,358,000). And that 
of the Tombstone Gold and Silver Alining Company was o)ie million 
four hundred forty thousand dollajs ($1,440,000). 

The Silver King rewards its owners with a large o\\X.\)\.\t, seven hun- 
dred forty-one thousand {$y^\, 000) in 1882. The McCracken lode has 
yxQXdQdoxcv eight hu)idred thousand dollars ($800,000) ; the Hackberry 
and McMorris nearly half a million each. 

In Yuma County gold was discovered in placers, in 1862, and one 
million five hundred thousand dollars ($1,500,000) were taken out in 
three years. The mines of the Castle-Donee district have yielded 
more than two million dollars ($2,000,000). 

The X'ulture mine, in Mariposa County, has yielded more money 
than any mine in Arizona Territory — three million dollars ($3,000,- 
000). 

It is claimed that the copper mines of Arizona are richer than any 
other copper mines in the world. The Copper Queen mine had 
yielded over tivo million dollars ($2,000,000) up to Jan. i, 1883. 
Arizona is called the "Copper Queen of the Rockies." 

In confirmation of much that has been said about Arizona, the 
following table shows shares, capital, aggregate dividends, of five of 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



493 



the most valuable mines in that territory Jan. i,, 1885, with time last 
dividend was paid ; — 



NAME OF MINE. 


SHARES. 


CAPITAL. 


DIVIDENDS. 


LAST DIVIDEND PAID. 


Grand Cential, etc 

Silver King, etc 

Tombstone Mill, etc 

Contention Mining Company 
Vizini Consolidated, etc. . 


100,000 
100,000 
500,000 
250,000 
200,000 


$10,000,000 
10,000,000 
12,500,000 
12,500,000 
5,000,000 


$800,000 
1,350,000 
1,250,000 
1,187,500 
145,000 


Dec, 1882 
Dec. 15, 1884 
April 12, 1882 
Dec. 24, 1884 
Nov., 1884 



DAKOTA. 

While Dakota is known the world over for her great farms, her 
mines are no less famous. The rich gulches of Whitewood and 
Deadwood creeks became known in 1875, and in two years four 
million dollars ($4,000,000) in gold were taken out. 

The Homestate produced o)ic million one Jiundrcd fourteen thou- 
sand five hundred sixty-eight dollars ($1,114,568) in 1882, one million 
one hundred seventy thousand nine JuLudred and nijietcen dollars 
($1,170,919) in 1883, and one million tzvo hundred fifty-tivo thousand 
seven hundred sixty fve dollars and seventy cents ($1,252,765.70) in 
1884; the Father De Smet, three hundred ninety-one thousand tico 
hundred sixty-nine dollars ($391,269), three hundred fifty-five thou- 
sand four huudird tiventy-tlu-ee dollars and sixty-one cents ($355,- 
423.61), and four hundred seventy-four thousand five hundred fifty-tzuo 
dollars ninety-four cents ($474,552.94), in the same years respectively; 
and the Deadwood Tqvy^, five hundred fifty-one thousand fifty-tzvo dol- 
lars ($551,052), tivo Jiundred forty-five thousand six hundred a}id fifty 
dollars ($245,650), 2iX\d four hundred sixty-six tjiousand five Jiundred 
thirty-tzuo dollars and seventy-eight cents ($466,532.78). 

The production of gold in the Black Hills of Dakota from 1876 to 
Aug. I, 1882, amounted to tzventy-tzvo million dollars {$22,000,006) ; 
and the average annual yield since has been about five million dollars 
($5,000,000). 

The Highland mine j^roduccd fi.ve hundred eleven thousand seven 
hundred forty dollars and thirty-tivo cents ($511,740.32) in 1884. 

The tlirector of the mint at Washington estimated the gold and 
silver yield of Dakota in 1884 at three million four hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars ($3,450,000). 



494 MAKIKLS OF THE XEir II EST. 



IDAHO. 



The Vishnu and Elmore mines have yielded more than tzuo 
mil lion dol/ars (S2,000,000). 

At Gold Hill a single mill has run twelve years and produced tzco 
million six hundred fifty thousand dollars (52,650,000). 

The placers in Stanley Basin, Custer County, were discovered in 
1862, and yielded, in ten years, five Jiundrcd tJionsand dollars. Since 
then a few men only have worked them, taking out one hundred 
thousand more. In the early days of the mine, one man. with 
a "rocker," took out nine hutidred dollars in one day. Loon Creek 
produced six hundred thousand dollars in three years. 

A twenty-stamp, dry-crushing mill was erected in Yankee Fork 
District in 1880, since which time it has turned out three )nillion dol- 
lars (§3,000,000). 

Custer County has added ojie million three hundred fifty thousand 
dollars ($1,350,000) to the wealth of the w^orld in gold from its placers, 
and from its quartz mines six juillion eight hundred thousand dollars 
(S6, 800,000). 

Semhi County, since 1867. has yielded eight niillion seven hundred 
thousand dollars ($8,700,000). Its yield in 1885 was six hundred 
thousand dollars, and, with more capital and proper reduction ma- 
chinery, that amount might have been easily trebled. 

The Poorman mine, in Ouzhee County, received in return ninety 
thousand dollars ($90,000) for its first shipment of one hundred tons 
of ore. Soon after, fifteen tons, shipped to Newark, N. J., yielded 
seventyfive thousatid dollars ($75,000). Its yield produced some of 
the richest specimens of ruby and native silver ever mined. A speci- 
men of this ruby, about two feet square and sixt\- per cent pure 
silver, received a special gold medal at the Paris E.xposition. 

The Morning Star has produced one million dollars) ($1,000,000), 
one lot of one hundred tons yielding one thousand dollars per ton. 

The P21more, with a twenty-stamp mill, yielded six hundred thou- 
sand dollars ($600,000) in a thirty days' run. 

E. J. Farmer shows the great wealth of Idaho's mines by the 
following table : — 

Oro Fino Mine has produced 52,756,128 

Old Elmore Mine . . " 2,000,000 

Golden Chariot and Minnesota " 3,000,000 

Mahogany Mine " 1,200,000 

Poorman Mine " 4,000,000 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



495 



Morning Star Mine has produced ^i, 000,000 

Monarch Mine " 1,100,000 

Buffalo Mine " 1,000,000 

Ada Ehnore Mine " 1,200,000 

Confederate Star Mine " 350,000 

Vishnu Mine " 850,000 

Wild West Mine " 300,000 

Red Warrior, Elk Creek, Fcatliery River, and Rear Creek Placers " 2,000,000 

Custer, Dickens, Montana, etc. " 1,250,000 

Mt. Estes Mines " 2,000,000 

Ramshorn " 600,000 



And he adds: "The mines whose product is from $10,000 to 
$50,000 per annum can be counted by scores, many of which will 
doubtless in time prove bonanzas. Sufficient development has been 
made to demonstrate the fact that Idaho has rich veins of the 
precious metals, and that when her resources shall become known to 
the world, she will have a brilliant future. There are yet thousands 
of square miles of her metal-ribbed mountains that have never been 
trodden by a white man's foot, and where prospecting will be carried 
on for years to come, with success." 

The following table shows the estimated production of the precious 
metals in Idaho since first discovery : — 



Year. Amount Produced. 

1862 $5,000,000.00 

1863 7,448,400.91 

1864 9,019,704.30 

1865 12,914,364.25 

1866 10,001,850.44 

1867 7,388,064.31 

1868 3,030,213.56 

1869 1,613,453.68 

1870 2,239,190.61 

187I 2,219,937.94 

1872 2,675,192.00 

1873 3.653,605.15 



Year. Amount Produced. 

1874 $3,100,447.69 

1875 1,983,720.27 

1876 2,267,013.36 

1877 3,474,787.69 

1878 2,657,216.91 

1879 2,553,634.58 

1880 1,634,637.19 

1881 4,915,100.00 

1882 5,500,000.00 

1833 5,000,000.00 

1884 (estimated) .... 6,500,000.00 



Total production 



$106,790,530.14 



Here is a Territory, so isolated and subject to the depredations of 
savage tribes, until within five or six years, as to interfere with min- 
ing and all other industries, adding more than a hundred million 
dollar.'; to the world's wealth. 

From the Montana mine four men took out eighty thousand dol- 
lars ($80,000) in six months. 

The Mayflower produced tzvo hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) 
in 1 88 1, and /7V hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in 1882. It 



496 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

was sold to J. V. Farwell at the beginning of 1882 for tJircc Jiuudrcd 
and seventy-five thousand dollars ($375,000). 

Tiie Idahoan produced tJwee hundred thousand dollars (3300,000) 
in 1882, and the Jay Gould txvo hundred thousand dollars ($200,000). 

The Ramshorn was discovered in 1877, since which time it has 
yielded tivo million dollars ($2,000,000). In 1882 its yield was over 
three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000). 

From the West Fork mine one man took out 7?/?;' thousand dollars 
in twenty days. 

The Bullion mine yielded one hundred tiventy-five thousand \n 1883 ; 
from Nov. i to Dec. 10 of that year the yield was seventy-tivo thou- 
sand nine hundred sixty dollars ($72,960) ; this in forty days. The 
whole Bullion distriet yielded seven Jiundred thousand dollars ($700,- 
000) in 1882, and one million dollars in 1883. 

The stock capital of the Idahoan mines is ten million dollars. 

The Minnie Moore was sold for one million dollars. 

One mine in Warm Spring Creek yields three hundred thousand 
dollars ($300,000) annually. Three others yielded one million two 
hundred thousand dollars ($1,200,000) in a single season. 



MONTANA. 

Although Montana is so remote and isolated, the Territory ranks 
next to the State of California in the production of gold. The dis- 
covery of rich placer mines in 1862 caused a rush to that country, 
and within three years from the time miners were fairly settled 
down to work, Alder Gulch alone, thirteen miles long, yielded sixty 
million dollars ($60,000,000). 

Since gold mining commenced in Montana, the Territory has 
produced, including copper and lead, t^vo hundred million dollars 
($200,000,000). 

The gold output for 18S4 amounted to $2,170,150.00. The silver 
output for 1884 amounted to $8,138,350.00; total, $10,308,500.00. 

Four large companies to prosecute mining were organized in 
Lewis and Clarke County in 1884, and others have been added from 
month to month since : the Bald Mountain Mining Company, with 
capital of tzvo million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) ; 
the Clany Creek Mining Company, with capital of tivo million five 
hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) ; the Crown Point Mining 
Company, with capital of two million five hundred thousand dollars 



MARVELS OF MINING. 497 

(^2,500,000) ; and the National Mining Company, with capital of 
five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000). 

The Hecla Company prockiced six hundred ninefv-tiL<o thousand 
eight hundred tiuenty-three doUars and nine eents ($692,823.09) in 
gold and silver, in 1884; and, in addition, nearly five million pounds 
of lead, and more than a third of a million pounds of copper. 

71ie Penobscot has produced one and a half million dollars since 
it was opened. 

The Drum Lummon carries a vein of gold and silver ninety feet 
wide, the ore averaging fifty dollars per ton. In 1883 this mine was 
sold to an English company for one million six hundred thirty tJiou- 
sand dollars ($1,630,000). Two years ago it was claimed that this 
mine had $9,000,000 in sight. 

The output of the Whitelash Union has amounted to about four 
million dollars to this date. 

Last Chance Gulch, with its tributaries, has yielded sixteen milliofi 
dollars ($16,000,000). 

The Butte City region produces about six million dollars per 
annum, including copper. The Alice is found here, which paid 
dividends amounting to five hundred thousand dollars in five years. 
In 1884 the whole property of the company yielded ^^z/^- million tivo 
hundred thousand dollars ($1,200,000). 

The Lexington is a high-grade silver mine, and was sold to a 
French company in 1881 for one million five hundred thousand dollars. 
In 1884 its output was <?;/r million tzoo hundred eighty-nine thousand 
six hundred eightyfive dollars and thirtyfour cents ($1,289,685.34). 
Its monthly yield when the Washington mint director reported last 
was nearly one Jiundred tJiousand dollars. 

The Algonquin y'loids one hundred and fifty thousand dollars per 
annum. 

The Alta and the Comet mines together produced three hundred 
forty-three thousand four hundred forty-eight dollars ($343,448) in a 
single year, over and above all expenses. 

The mines of the Helena Company yielded one million one hundred 
thousand dollars ($i,ioo,ooo) in 1884. 

The Alice has produced $100,000 per month ; the Gloster, $50,000 
per month ; the Cable has yielded $1,000,000. and has $1,500,000 in 
sight. 

The Elkhorn produced in ten months, ending Dec. 31, 1884, 
ofte hundred seventy thousand six hundred ninety-six dollars. 

The Valdemere, which began work in 1883, paid/7v hundred fifty 



498 



MARVELS OF THE NEW II EST. 




MARl'ELS OF MINING. 499 

thousand dollars in dividends in eighteen months, and has continued 
to pay at this rate. 

The Moulton is capitahzed at two millioji dollars (52, 000,000), and 
yielded, in 1883, tJircc hundred seventy-six thoitsand six Jiundred 
eighty-four dollars and twenty eents (^376,684.20); and in 1884 its 
output was over seven hundred tJiousand dollars. 

The Bell mine yielded four Jiundred fifty thousand dollars in 
1884. 

The illustration of Red Mountain exhibits one of the most impor- 
tant undeveloped mining regions of the United States. A writer 
says : — 

"This mineral field covers an area of about twelve miles square, 
and contains vast deposits of gold, silver, copper, lead, and tin. The 
district was discovered about twenty years ago, and there are now 
nearly three hundred mineral locations, and it may be truthfully said 
that it is the most important undeveloped mineral field in Montana, 
or even in the United States." 

Of course the scenery is surpassingly grand. The editor of the 
Montana Stock and Mining Jotirnal says : — 

" In point of scenic beauty. Red Mountain and its surroundings 
probably excel that of any camp in Montana. The beautiful Beaver 
Creek leaping from its dizzy height, through its narrow, rocky defile, 
to a commingling with the waters of the Ten-mile, at the very foot 
of Red Mountain, presents a study worthy of the pencil of the great- 
est artist the world can produce. Switzerland, under treatment of 
the most enthusiastic writer, cannot furnish a more beautiful picture, 
and the entire caiion of the Ten-mile, from the Hot Springs, near 
Helena, to the source of the stream at Red Mountain, is one grand 
kaleidoscope of ever-changing grandeur, baflfling the power of pen to 
describe. A good and natural wagon road leads from Helena to the 
mines, through the canon, unfolding its great beauties at each turn, 
in an atmosphere laden with the perfume of countless thousands of 
blossoming flowers, as one might turn the pages of an intensely inter- 
esting book inspired by some favorite author." 

Immense deposits of coal, iron, copper, and lead are found in the 
Territory. Professor Raymond says : — 

" The almost uniform experience of working Montana copper veins 
has been to demonstrate that the veins improve in width and rich- 
ness the deeper the shafts are sunk. At a depth of from eighty to 
one hundred feet, several of them show ore that will average fifty per 
cent copper, though near the surface the same openings yielded ore 



500 MARVELS OF THE AEW UEST. 

carrying but twenty-five to thirty-three per cent. The lodes of cop- 
per are abundant, and the veins from four to one hundred feet in 
width." 

E. J. Farmer says: "Precious stones, as agates, garnets, rubies, 
amethyst, and jasper, are found in many localities. A ledge of ame- 
thyst eighteen inches wide has recently been discovered on Running 
Wolf Creek, and a mountain of jasper, near Belmont Park. Ledges 
of fine white marble and sandstone of simerior quality have been 
found in Madison County." 

Montana claims to have the four greatest mines in the world, — 
the Anaconda, Bluebird, Granite Mountain, and Drum Lummon. 
Their combined product for 1886 was nearly $9,000,000. 



NEVADA. 

The fame of Nevada is world-wide on account of the Comstock 
lode, which once yielded almost fabulous wealth. 

The Eureka Mining Company produced, in 1884, four hundred 
eighty-four thousajid four hundred ttventy dollars and ninctyfour 
cents ($484,420.94). 

The Manhattan Silver Mining Company have operated their mill 
for ten months during the year, producing from their mines 5,204 
tons of bullion, averaging S231.50 per ton,, which was shipped to 
London, and yielded $1,128,909.91. The mines of this company 
have been worked continuously for the past twenty years, and are 
estimated to have produced over $20,000,000. 

The output of the Yellow Jacket mine, in 1884, was: gold, $294,- 
798.94; silver, $489,853.66; total, seven hundred fourteen thousand 
six hundred ffty-tiuo dollars and sixty eents ($714,652.60). 



COMSTOCK LODE, 

Showing shares, capital, aggregate dividends, and when la.st (li\-i- 
dend was paid. The reader will sec that the dividends ceased, with 
most of them, several years ago : — 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



501 



NAME OF MINE. 


SH.ARES. 


CAPIT.\L. 


DIVIDENDS. 


LAST DIVIDEND. 


Belcher Silver Mining Co. . . 

Chollar Mining Co 

Confidence Mining Co 

Crown and Point, etc 

Gould & Curry, etc 

Hale & Norcross, etc 

Kentuck Mining Co 

Ophir Mining Co 

Savage Gold and Silver, etc. . 

Sierra Nevada, etc 

Succor Mill, etc 

Yellow Jacket, etc 


104,000 
I I 2,000 

24,960 
100,000 
108,000 
112,000 

30,000 
100,800 
I I 2,000 
100,000 

68,400 
I 20,000 


$10,400,000 
11,200,000 

2,496,000 
10,000,000 
10,800,000 
11,200,000 

3,000,000 
10,000,800 
11,200,000 
10,000,000 

6,840,000 
12,000,000 


$15,397,200 

3,080,000 

78,000 

11,688,000 

3,825,800 

1,598,000 

1,300,000 

1,596,400 

4,560,000 

102,500 

22,800 

2,184,000 


April 10, 1S76 
Feb. 10, 1872 
May I, 1865 
Jan. 12, 1S75 
Oct. 20, 1870 
April 10, 1 87 1 
Aug. 20, 1884 
Jan. 17, 1880 
June II, 1869 
Jan. 16, 1 87 1 
Oct. 16, 1 87 1 
Aug. 10, 1 87 1 


,Total dividends, §45,432,700. 



The whole output of the above mines was nearly double the divi- 
dends, the expenses amounting to about forty millions. The forty- 
five Diilliou four hundred tliirty-tzoo thousand seven hundred dollars 
($45,432,700) went into the pockets of stockholders as dividends. 

From a report of the Mechanics' Institute of San Francisco, in 
1867, we extract the following upon the yield of bullion by the Corn- 
stock lode : — 

"The annual product for the last five years has been in round 
numbers as follows : — 

1862 $4,000,000 

1863 12,000,000 

1864 16,000,000 

1865 15,000,000 

1866 16,000,000 

Total produce in five years $63,000,000 

"The total annual production of silver in the world in 1854 is 
stated by Professor Whitney at $47,443,200. The bullion obtained 
from the Comstock lode in 1866 is, therefore, more than one-third 
greater in value than all the silver product of the world in 1854. 
Mexico, in its most flourishing days, from 1795 to 1810, produced an 
annual average of $24,000,000 from several thousand mines. After 
18 10, when the revolution took place, the yield of the mines fell in 
some years to as low a figure as $4,500,000, but the average from 18 10 



502 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



to 1825 shows $10,000,000. At the present time the entire product 
of Mexico does not exceed that of the Comstock lode. 

"The celebrated mines of Potosi averaged about $4,000,000 per 
annum for three hundred years; those of the Veta Madre (mother 
vein) of Guanajuato about $3,000,000 for an equal period ; and the 
mines of the Real del Monte Company, on the Biscanya vein in 
Mexico, over $400,000 for the last one hundred and ten years, or a 
total of $44,000,000, a less amount than has been obtained from the 
Comstock lode in the last three years." 

The dividends of ten mines on Comstock lode for the second quar- 
ter of 1867 were as follows : — 



Savage 

Hale & Xorcross 

Imperial 

Yellow Jacket . . 
Chollar Potosi . 

Ken tuck 

Crown Point . . . 
Gold Hill, etc. . 
Empire Mill, etc. 
Gould & Curry . 



Total 



APRIL. 


MAY. 


JUNE. 


TOTAL. 


$80,000 


$120,000 


$160,000 


$360,000 


50,000 


50,000 


50,000 


I 50,000 


60,000 


60,000 


40,000 


160,000 




60,000 


90,000 


I 50,000 




70,000 


70,000 


140,000 




40,000 


60,000 


100,000 


48,000 


48,000 




96,000 


5,000 


5,000 


5,000 


15,000 




7,000 




7,200 



$1,178,200 



The production of nine mines of Nevada to March, 1882, were as 
follows : — 

Belcher $15,397,000 

California Gold and Silver Mining Company 31,510,000 

Consolidated Virginia, etc 42,930,000 

Crown Point, etc 11 ,588,000 

Eureka Consolidated, etc 4,705,000 

Gould & Curry ' 3,826.000 

Northern Bell, etc 2,162,500 

Richmond Consolidated, etc 3,742,550 

Savage 7,460,000 

Total $123,321,050 

A company proposes to dredge the Carson River in Nevada for 
quicksilver and amalgam. Eighteen miles of river bed have been 
selected. It is estimated that ten per cent of the bullion product of 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



503 



the Comstock mines has flowed as taihngs into the Carson River, and 
that at least {^40,000,000 will be recovered. 

Production of Shorey County, in which the Comstock lode is 
situated, in i 'S66 : — 



January ^816,430.43 

February 971,643.46 

March 1,061,577.65 

April 1,052,759.89 

May 1,145,293.41 

June 1,244,297.54 

July 1,198,741.56 



.August $1,420,902.35 

September 1,169,391.46 

October 1,409,220.00 

November 1,327,985.00 

December 1,348,828.80 



Total $14,167,071.55 



In United States currency this represents a value of ;?! 18,072,934. 
Production of Shorey County first six nv nths of 1867 : — 

April $1,567,427.60 

^lay 1.7S4.724.25 



January $1,330,832.80 

February 1,238,811.63 

March 979,786.78 



.lune 1,594,794.22 



Total $8,501,377.28 

.luly 1,613,559.75 

Total $10,114,937.03 



NEW MEXIC(3. 



Little attention, comparatively, had been given to mining in the 
Territory of New Mexico. Other fields have been more inviting to 
miners than this ; and yet there is no question that gold-seekers in 
the future will find this to be a high paying locality, if not a bonanza. 
G. S. Haskell, Esq., was the commissioner of New Mexico to the 
Denver Exposition, and from his report of the Territory's display 
there we extract the following : — 

"The Lake Valley district made a showing which far surpassed 
anything else in the building in the way of rich ores coming from 
large bodies. The verdict was universal and unequivocal. They 
were inclosed in three glass cases. In one was a piece of horn silver 
weighing 640 pounds valued at $7,340. A ton of this ore is worth 
$22,625.69. Eight men in eight hours took out $130,000 worth of it. 
One brick of 241 pounds, value $2,169.14, 990 fine, was shown, which 
was run from 241 pounds of the ore. This ore is all from the mines 
of the Sierra Grande company. The output at present is at the rate 
of about $5,000,000 per annum. 

" Percha district, where the recent new discovery was made, was 
represented by one piece of ore weighing 150 pounds, value $1,800, 



504 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



taken from the Solitaire claim, bonded by H. A. W. Tabor for Sioo,- 
ooo. It is a sulphide of silver and native silver, running sixty-nine per 
cent in the pure metal. This is probably the largest piece of sulphide 
of silver ever discovered. A smaller piece of equal richness was exhib- 
ited, in which the grass roots were seen. 

" The Organ district was represented by about thirty mines, of 
which we can mention only a few. Copper Duke, eight feet wide, 
discovered in September, nine feet of development, runs forty to sixty 
per cent in copper and as high as §150,000 gold. This was one of 
the most remarkable free gold specimens shown." 




LAKE VALLEY SMELTING WORKS. 



From Ritch's " Illustrated New Mexico " we extract the follow 



"There is, however, one young giant among the mining camps 
which has so wonderfully and so recently come into existence, and 
the fact with reference to which, read so much like a chapter from 
the • Arabian Night's Entertainments,' tliat we here transfer an extract 
from a paper prepared by an able pen, and in which statement the 
writer hereof, who has personally visited and examined the camp in 
question, is prepared to verifv. 

"'There are at Daly (now Lake Valley) not less than 7,000 tons 
of ore on the dumps, running from Sioo to $20,000 to the ton ; and 



MARVELS OF MINING. 505 

in the mines, already uncovered and exposed to view, there are cer- 
tainly not less than 20,000 tons more of the same kind and richer 
ore. We believe we saw, in the two hours it took us to view the 
mines, not less than $15,000,000 worth of ore. I'hat running; from 
^200 to $300 to the ton is classed as low grade in this cam[). The 
pay begins at the grass roots and even in places at the croppings 
above the ground, and continues to a depth already reached, of fifty 
feet, and along the hillside for a distance of probably 2,000 feet. The 
deepest shaft we descended was not over fifty feet, and the ore body 
was still pitching downward. Huge caverns have been excavated 
beneath the grass, with only a thin roof of limestone or porphyry, 
from one to six or eight feet thick supported on timbers, which gives 
the place a wild, weird appearance, with its huge mountains of silver 
ore rolled one upon another by Nature in her throes with some pri- 
meval volcano, and prepares one for the appearance, in some dark 
corner, of the genius who presides over Nature's treasures. Instinct- 
ively one raises his candle to get a better view of the magic chambers. 
Here the rock is black, and looks like iron slag from some huge forge ; 
there it has a reddish cast,, as though the internal fires to which it 
owes its origin had not yet cooled off ; yonder the ore loses its char- 
acteristics as a rock formation and resembles a huge mass of soft 
quicksilver amalgam, both to the touch and to the eye ; in another 
spot it hangs in beautiful, glistening, soft chloride crystals which feel 
damp in the hand, and when compressed yield to the pressure and 
assume the shape of the closed palm, like dough. The latter forma- 
tion is more readily smelted than any ore we ever saw before, the 
flame of the candle sending the virgin silver dripping down the wall 
like shot. We had heard and doubted this story and were perfectly 
well aware of the fact that, according to the chemistry, it i"equires 
1,873 degrees Fahrenheit to fuse silver; yet we are now li\ing wit- 
nesses to the fact that the flame of the candle held against the pro- 
jecting crystals of chloride of silver in these mines, unaided by the 
blow-pipe, is sufficient to fuse them in half a minute. These chlo- 
rides run about $27,000 to the ton ; and we certainly saw of them and 
horn silver (equally as rich) a hundred tons. The chamber containing 
these crystals is called the Bridal Chamber ; and it is here that Gov- 
ernor Safford, of Arizona, offered to give $50,000 to be allowed to 
carry off and keep all the ore that he might by his own individual 
labor extract in ten hours. There is scarcely any waste rock. There 
are five piles of ore to one of waste; and it is with difficulty that rock 
is obtained for building the dumps to the height of a wagon without 



506 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

using ore for the purpose.' " But for our reliable authority, the fore- 
going might seem a tale of fiction. 

American occupation of New Mexico took place in 1846, from 
which time, according to the report of the director of the Unitec 
States mint, to Jan. i, 1882, the output of the Territory, in gold and 
silver, amounted to tJiirtccn uiillion nine hundred and scvcnty-tivo tlioji- 
sand dollars ($13,972,000). This does not include, of course, the dis- 
coveries since January, 1882, which eaiibrace the remarkable disclosures 
of Lake Valley and other localities. The amount would be nearly 
doubled were the whole output to the present date included. 

The Sierra Grand Mining Company paid o)ic million dollars in 
dividends to the stockholders in 1883 and 1884. 

The Merritt mine yielded about one thousand dollars (S 1,000) per 
day the last part of 1884. 

Of the Kohinoor of Sierra Apache, Mr. Ritch says : — 

" There are at least two thousand tons of ore upon the dumps of 
these properties, all having been extracted from the drifts, cuts, and 
winzes (no stoping being done), and its estimated value, made from 
close samples and tests, is far in excess of the original purchase 
money, which is popularly supposed to have been $500,000. Num- 
bers of leading mining experts have recently examined these proper- 
ties, and it is stated that none of them have estimated the ore 
reserve to be seen at less than $5,000,000." 

The output of Se\'enty-Six in twelve years has been one million 
two hundred sixty thousand dollars (S 1,260,000). 



UT.\H. 

Although Utah is called "the Iron Ouecn of the Rockies" on 
account of its immense beds of iron ore, it ranks fifth among the 
States and Territories in the production of gold and silver. 

The Eureka Hill Comiianv's output in 1884 was sei'eu hundred 
thousand dollars ($700,000), in round numbers. 

The following companies paid dividends in 1884, as follows: — 

Company. No. of Dividend. Amount. 

Horn Silver 4 $i,2CX),ooo 

Ontario .... 12 900,000 

Eureka Hill 6 120,000 

Hfjncrine I 12,500 

Total $2,232,500 



MARVELS OF MINING. 507 

The Horn Silver is capitalized at ten iiiillioti dollars (5 10, 000, 000). 
The following table shows the marvellous product from Feb. 17, 
1879, to Jan. I, 1885, — less than six years: — 

107,770,587 pounds lead, sold in Chicago for ^4,580,778.26 

6,148,906 ounces silver, sold in New York for 6,943,858.41 

1 1,678^4 ounces silver, sold in London for , 12,654.12 

2,585 ounces silver lost by railroad company, at 3i.l2 2,891.20 

3,264,341 pounds base bullion, sold in Utah for 244,399.93 

12,301,963 pounds ore, sold to other smelters for 194,123.66 

Total gross yield of mine to the company $11,978,705.58 

The Flagstaff yielded, from 1871 to 1879, over five iiii/lion dol- 
lar's ($5,000,000), when the vein appeared to be exhausted. The 
company has recently been reorganized, with the " confident expecta- 
tion that this lode will enter on a second producing stage from end 
to end." 

In seven years, from Feb. i, 1877, the Ontario Silver Mining- 
Company realized thirteen million jive Jiiindred thirty-nine thousand 
nine hnndred eighty-one dollars and sixty-nine cents ($13,539,981.69). 
More than six million dollars of it were profit. The mine is owned 
by a company in San Francisco, with capital stock of fifteen million 
dollars {$ 1 5 ,000,000) . 

The Antelope and Prince of Wales have yielded over one million 
dollars {$ i ,000,000) . 

It is estimated that the so-called American Fork district yielded, 
from 1874 to 1884, "500,000 tons of ore, equal to 100,000 tons of 
bullion, yielding $8,800,000 in silver, $1,500,000 in gold, and $5,000,- 
000 in lead ; amounting in all to $15,300,000." 

The Eureka Hill mine yields $33,000 per month. 

The Tecumseh, Stormy King, California, Maggie, and Silver Flat 
mines are worked by the Christy Company, with a capital of six 
million dollars ($6,000,ooo). Fifty thousand tons of ore yielded 
one million three hnndred thonsand dollars ($1,300,000). 

The Silver Reef produced /c^///' ;;//7//V;;/ dollars ($4,000,000) in five 
years. 

Mining commenced in Utah in 1870, since which time the Terri- 
tory has added over eighty million dollars ($80,000,000) to the wealth 
of the nation. 

Professor Newberry says of the iron ore deposits of Utah : — 

"The deposits of iron ore near Iron City and Iron Springs, in 
Southwestern Utah, are probably not excelled in intrinsic value by 
any in the world. The ore is magnetic and hematite, and occurs in 



5o8 



mari'j:ls of the xEir irHsr. 



a bolt hftoon or twenty miles long, and three or four miles wide, 
along whieh there are frequent outcro[-)s, eaeh of which shows a 
length and breatlth of several hundred feet of compact, massive ore 
of the richest cjuality. There are certainly no other such deposits of 
iron ore west of the Mississippi, and should it be found practicable 
to use Utah coal for the manufacture of pig and bar iron, and steel, 
from these ore beds, it would be difficult to overestimate the influ- 
ence they would have on the industries of the Pacific coast." 

Of the ticoitv t/iousauJ sijiiarc lui/cs of coal fields in the Territory, 
the Professor says : — 

"\\'ithin tiftcen miles of the iron ore betls, antl separated from 
them bv a nearly level plain, are dejiosits of coal which, I believe, 
can be successfully used for smelting iron, and which are certainly 
capable of furnishing a fuel that will perform all the other duties of 
coal, and that in inexhaustible cjuantities. These coal beds are con- 
nected with the coal fields of Eastern Utah, but it is only here that 
they push through the mountains into the ' railroad valleys,' which 
lie between the Wasatch and the Sierra Nevada. Several beds of 
coal here crop out on top of Cedar Mountain — beds wdiich vary from 
five to eighteen feet in thickness. The coal is of cretaceous age, and 
ec]ual in quality to any of the Western coals. It makes a faniy good 
coke, apparently as good as that manufactured at Trinidad, Colorado, 
and so extensively used for metallurgical purposes in that State. It 
is fully equal to the coals of Central and Northern Utah ; hence it 
will probably furnish a fuel atlapted for smelting and manufacturing- 
iron." 

Table showing shares, capital, and aggregate dividends of five of 
the most valuable mines of Utah, Jan. i, 1885, with time last dividend 
was paid : — 



DIVIDENDS. 



Ontario Mining Company 

Horn Silver, etc 

Stormont Silver, etc. . . . 



150,000 I $15,000,000 

1,400 I 400,000 



Crescent Mining Company . . ; 600,000 
Christy Mining Company . . 60,000 



6,000.000 



§26,050,000 Dec. 31, 1S84 

4,000,000 Nov. 15, 1SS4 

155,000 Nov. I, 1S81 

150,000 Oct. 25, 1SS3 

90,000 Feb. 9. 18S3 



MARVliLS OF MINING. 509 



WYOMING. 

E. J. Farmer says of the "wonderful crystallizations" of this 
Territory : — 

" At Rawlins, red oxide iron ore is pulverized for paint ; while at 
Cheyenne, there are carriage and wagon shops, as well as manufac- 
loiics of jewelry from the precious stones which are fcjund here in 
many localities. The 'JY>rritory is a rich field for scientists, having 
wonderful petrifications, fossils, and rare crystallizations. The agates, 
opals, topaz, jasjDcr, and chalcedony from Sweetwater County are 
exceedingly beautiful. The most magnificent crystallization at the 
Denver Mvposition, in 1882, was a portion of a fossil tree from Uintah 
County. The bark seemed to have been agatized first, and after the 
softer parts of the wood had decayed, crystals formed on the inner 
surface for a depth of two inches, leaving a hollow tube eight inches 
in diameter and fifteen inches in length. These cry.stals sparkled 
like diamonds, and were the admiration (jf all beholders." 

The gold and sihcr mining of Wyoming is of little account com- 
pared with that of C(jlorad(j, Califcjrnia, or Utah ; and yet it is carried 
on profitably in some porti(jns of the Territory, and promises to 
become an important factor in the future development of the country. 

Extensive mines of copper, as well as of coal, have been opened in 
[he Territory, promising to add largely to its wealth in the near 
future. The editor of the Cheyenne Leader says of the Village Belle 
coi)per mine : — 

" It is astonishing to see the large amount of native c(j])per found 
in this mine. I jMcked up a number of specimens containing globules 
of pure coi)per, and last c\uning the miners brought to the store a 
bag full of s])ecimens containing pure copper in large quantities, each 
globule varying in size from a pin-head to a buck-shot. The men 
had just gotten down to a pure copper streak late in the afternoon. 
Everybody in the camp and out of the camp is talking of the Village 
Belle, and if the claim were a veritable belle of the village, she would 
be flattered beyond measure by the praise bestowed upon her. 

" Several openings have been made in the hill at different points, in 
all of which good copper ore is exposed, which le:.ds to the conclusion 
that the whole hill is an immense bed of copper. The first vein or 
ore body struck was over twelve feet in sight. The ore is a varie- 
gated dark brown and green silicate, and runs from thirty-three and 
one-third to fifty per cent ccjpper. The openings befc^re reaching 



5IO MARVELS OF THE NEW II 'EST. 

the ledge are made through a deposit of red hematite iron. This 
magnificent property cannot be equalled in any copper camp." 

And this is only one copper mine of many recently discovered ! 

Mr. Farmer says of the Wyoming coal fields : — 

" They occupy a belt fifty to one hundred miles wide across the 
southern portion of the Territory, and are found in the region of the 
Big Horn and Powder rivers, east of the Wind River, and both east 
and west of the Laramie range. At Cooper Lake, in the Laramie 
Plains, a vein has been discovered which is fifteen feet thick, antl 
one at Carbon ten feet. The veins \-ary in thickness from four to 
forty feet ; while at Carter Station, on the Union Pacific Railway, in 
Uintah County, these coal seams are estimated to measure four hun- 
dred feet in thickness, with sandstone strata between them." 

His description of the remarkable soda deposits in the Territory 
will be read with surprise as well as profit, as follows : — 

" The soda deposits of Wyoming are certainly the most remarkable 
in the world. Twelve miles southwest of Laramie City there are a 
number of lakelets of solidified soda. The largest of these covers an 
area of fift\'-si\ acres, and the deposits vary from ten to fifteen feet 
in thickness in the deeper portions. From these lakelets a cube of 
two hundred cubic feet, of solid crystalline sulphate of soda, was 
exhibited at the Centennial Exposition, whicli gave the following 
analysis: 'Soda, 19.4 per cent; sulphuric acid, 24.8 per cent, equal 
to 44.2 per cent of sulphate of soda; water of crystallization, 55.8 
per cent.' Colonel Downey, of Wyoming, thus describes these lake- 
lets : ' The deposit whence the samj^le mentioned was taken covers 
an area of more than one hundred acres ; being a solid bed of crys- 
tallized suljihate of soda nine feet thick. The deposit is sup])lied 
from the bottom by sjirings, whose water holds the salts in solution. 
The water, rising to the surface, rapidly evaporates ; and the salts 
with whicli it is impregnated readil}- crystallize in the form men- 
tioned. Upon removing any of the material, the water, rising from 
the bottom, fills the excavation made ; and the salts, crystallizing, 
replace in a few days the material removed. Hence the deposit is 
practically inexhaustible ; and it now contains about fifty million cubic 
feet of chemically pure crystallized sulphate of soda, ready to be 
utilized.' Near Independence Rock, seventy-five miles north of Raw- 
lins, in the valley of the Sweetwater, are deposits of bi-carbonate of 
soda. Here are about one hundred lakelets, coxering an area of 
three hundred acres, making a deposit one mile in length, by half a 
mile in breadth. Part of these are solid soda, and part are filled with 



MARVELS OF MINING. 511 

strong alkaline water. In one of these lakelets of solidified soda, 
borings have been made to the depth of forty feet without passing 
beyond the soda formation. When we consider that the consump- 
tion of soda in the United States amounts to two hundred fift\' mil- 
lions of pounds per annum, — all of which is imported at a cost of 
$47 per ton, with 20 per cent ad valorem duty, making the cost 
$56.40 per ton, — it would seem as tliough Wyoming furnished a 
wonderful opportunity for both capital and enterprise in the soda 
business. At Rich Creek, near the Union Pacific Railway, there is 
reported to be a deposit of sulphate of magnesia, in nearly a pure 
state, covering one hundred acres to the depth of several inches. 
Gypsum, of fine quality, is found in many localities ; notably in the 
Wind River Valley, on Horseshoe Creek, and near Red Buttes. 
Kaolin, or porcelain clay, has been discovered in Albany county ; 
and mica at both Diamond Peak and in the Laramie Mountains, 
thirty miles northwest of Fort Laramie. Sandstone, marble, lime- 
stone, and clay for brick, are abundant." 

Another writes : " Wonderful stories are told of the natural wealth 
of Wyoming Territory. There is said to be a mountain of solid hema- 
tite iron in the heart of the Territory, with six hundred feet of it 
above ground, more than a mile wide, and over two miles in length ; 
a bed of lignite coal big enough to light the world for centuries ; 
eight lakes of solid soda, one of them over six hundred acres in extent 
and not less than thirty feet in depth ; and a petroleum basin which 
contains more oil than Pennsylvania and West Virginia combined, 
from which in places the oil is oozing in natural wells at the rate of 
two barrels a day." Also, "an extensive deposit of rubidium, a rare 
metal worth S5000 a pound, has been discovered near Rock Creek, 
in this Territory." 

ORI'XiON AND WASHINGTON. 

The settlement of this portion of the New Northwest commenced 
so much earlier than that of the States and Territories considered, 
that, strictly speaking, the)' might not be embraced in the New West. 
But geographically they belong here ; and, also, their claim to be 
considered in this connection cannot be denied, because of gold and 
silver mining within their domains. 

The director of the United States mint gives the product of Oregon 
in 1883 and 1884 as follows : — 



512 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 





1883. 


1884. 




GOLD. 


SILVER. 


TOTALS. 


GOLD. 


SILVER. 


TOTALS. 


Baker . . 


$190,000 


$5,000 


$195,000 


$160,000 


$2,500 


$162,500 


Benton . . 


5,000 




5,000 


5,000 


... 


5,000 


Coos . . . 


5,000 




5,000 


20,000 




20,000 


Curry. . . 


20,000 


200 


20,000 


20,000 


200 


20,000 


Crant . . 


240,000 


25,000 


265,000 


200,000 


15,000 


215,000 


Jackson . 


135,000 


2,000 


137,000 


100,000 


1,000 


101,000 


Josephine 


175,000 


2,000 


177,000 


110,000 


1,000 


I I I ,000 


Union . . 


60,000 


800 


60,800 


45,000 


300 


45,300 


Totals . . 


$830,000 


$35,000 


$865,000 


$660,000 


$20,000 


$680,000 



He estimates the production of Washington Territory for the same 
year: Gold, $85,000; silver, $1000; total, $86,000; with the addi- 
tional encouragement of increase from year to year. 



SUMMARY. 

The production of gold, silver, copper, and lead in the New West, 
for the year ending Jan. i, 1886, appears in the following table : — 



STATES AND TERRI 
TORIES. 


<;OLD DUST AND 

BULLION 

BY EXPRESS. 


GOLD DUST AND 

BULLION SILVER BULLION 
BY OTHER CON- BY EXPRESS. 
VEYANCES. 


ORES AND BASE 

BULLION TOTALS. 
BY FREIGHT. 


California . . . 
Xeva.la . . . . 
Orcf^on . . . . 
Washington . . 

Idaho 

Montana . . . 

Utah 

Colorado . . . 
New Mexico . 
Arizona . . . . 
Dakota . . . . 


$11,750,490 
1,253,355 

396,937 

72,700 

905,946 

2,091,000 

33,362 

2,653,000 

226,519 

726,426 

2,506,623 


^587,524 

198,468 

36,350 

200,000 

60,000 
120,000 
100,000 


$1,608,500 

6,575.430 

12,000 

867,410 
6,317,512 
3,061,424 
5,024,000 
1,107,627 
2,752,068 

120,000 


$1,090,158 
1,384,336 

2,450,000 
5,816,000 
5,831,948 
13,695,000 
2,431.617 
2,996,652 


$15,036,672 

9,213,121 

607,405 

109,050 

4,423,356 

14,224,512 

8,926,734 

21,372,000 

3,825,763 
6,595,146 
2,726,623 


Totals 


$22,616,358 


$1,302,342 


^^29,399,3" 


535.695,7" 


$87,060,382 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



513 



The annual products of lead, copper, silver, and gold in the New 
West, from 1870 to 1885, are as follows : — 



YEAR. 


LEAD. 


COPPER. 


SILVER. 


GOLD. 


TOTALS. 


1S7O 

•871 

1872 

1873 

1874 

1875. ..... 

1876 

1877 

1878 

1879 

1880. 

188I 

1882 

IS83 

1884 

1885 


$1,080,000 
2,100,000 
2,250,000 
3,450,000 
3,800,000 
5,100,000 
5,040,000 
5,085,250 
3,452,000 
4,185,769 
5.742,390 
6,361,902 
8,008,155 
8,163,550 
6,834,091 
8,562,991 


,^898,000 
1,195,000 
4.055.037 
5.683.921 
6,086,252 
7.838,036 


$17,320,000 
19,286,000 
19,924,429 
27,483,302 
29,699,122 

31.635.239 
39,292,924 
45,846,109 

• 37.248,137 
37.032,857 
38,033,055 
42,987,613 
48,133,039 
42,975,101 
43,529,925 
44,516,599 


133,750,000 
34,398,000 

38,177.395 
39,206,558 
38,466,488 
39,968,194 
42,886,935 
44,880,223 
37,576,030 
31,470,262 
32,559,067 
30,653,959 
29,011,318 
27,816,640 
25,183,567 
26,393,756 


$52,130,000 
55,784,000 
60,351,824 
70,139,860 
71,965,610 
76,703,433 
87,219,859 
95,811,582 
78,276,167 
72,688,888 
77,232,512 
81,198,474 
89,207,549 
84.639,212 

81,633,835 
87,311,382 


Total ' 




1.222,314,187 



The following lode veins yielded the sums opposite their names 
during the specified portion of 1880: — 

Richman Consolidated, for eleven months $2,449,642 

Standard, for eleven months 1,545,854 

Ontario, for eleven months 1,628,545 

Chrysolite, for nine months, representing ore sold. "\'ield much greater . . . 1,689,752 

Little Chief " " " " " "... 1,103,311 

Iron .Silver " " " " " "... 645,425 

Eureka Consolidated, ten months of year 1,243,894 

Manhattan, ten months of year 739,400 

Northern Belle, ten months of year 1,111,525 

Contention, ten months of year 867,686 

Consolidated Virginia 1,588,620 

California 782,298 

Ophir 905,924 

Silver King (Arizona), monthly 200,000 

Home Stake (Black Hills), a new mine, total 840,000 

Placer operations embrace millions of money in California, Idaho, 
Colorado, and Arizona. One Jiundrcd and five million dollars (^105,- 



514 MAKl'KLS OF THE XKir U'EST. 

000,000) have been expended on hytlraulic processes in Placer and 
Yuba counties, California, and it is estimated that Jirr hundred mii- 
lioH dollars ($500,000,000) will be taken out of the ground in the 
next few years. 

The following mines have the sums of money set opposite their 
names respectively, as aggregate dividends, to Jan. 1, 1880: — 

Consolidated Virginia $42,930,000 

Belcher 15,307,200 

Savage 4,460,000 

Yellow Jacket 2,184,000 

Ophir 1,594,000 

Consolidated Imperial 1,125,000 

Confidence 78,000 

Succor 22,800 

California 30,950,000 

Crown and Point 11,688,000 

Gould & Curry 3,825,000 

Hale tS: Norcross 1,598,000 

Kentuck 1,252,000 

Sierra Nevada 102,200 

Darney 57,000 

Total 5125,342,900 

Will the mines fail } is a very natural inquiry, to which many 
miners even would answer Yes. Some have been exhausted ; others 
have not. A class of mines will become exhausted ; another class 
will not. The best authority on the subject says : — 

" Historv shows that wherever a true fissure vein has been found 
it has never been worked out. Such veins have been, in fact, 
worked for ages without any perceptible diminutit)n in their yield. 
Where ores have decreased in value, the ore bodies have increased 
in size, the increase of one compensating for the loss of the other. 
Some have even increased their yield, the quality of the ore re- 
maining unchanged. Others have been found to deteriorate from 
veins of silver to those of baser metals." 



ADnrnoNAL f.u rs and statistics. 

The director of the mint at Washington furnishes a table showing 
the world's production of gold and silver for 1881, 1882, and 1883. 
The reader can readily learn from it the place which the United States 
occupies among the nations as a prt)ducer of the precious metals. 



MARVELS OF MINING. 



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MAKl'ELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



The director, also, supplies the following instructive table with 
remarks : — 

" After carefully comparing the returns and information obtained 
as to the yield of individual mines, the amount and value of bullion 
shipped at railroad stations and express offices in the mining regions, 
the reports from the mints and assay offices, from correspondents 
and from smelters and refiners and dealers in bullion, I estimate that 
the mines of each State and Territory added, during the calendar 
year 1884, to the world's stock of gold and silver at their coinage 
value as follows : — 



STATES OR TSRRITORIES. 



Alaska 

Arizona 

California 

Colorado 

Dakota 

Georgia 

Idaho 

Montana 

Nevada 

New Mexico 

North Carolina . . . . . 

Oregon 

South Carolina 

Utah 

Virginia 

Washington 

Wyoming 

Alabama, Tennessee, etc. 

Totals 



^200,000 

930,000 

1 3,600,000 

4,250,000 

3,300,000 

137,000 

1,250,000 

2, 1 70,000 

3,500,000 

300,000 

157,000 

660,000 

57,000 

120,000 

2,000 

85,000 

6,000 

76,000 



>4, 500,000 

3,000,000 

1 6,000,000 

1 50,000 

2,720,000 

7,000,000 

5,600,000 

3,000,000 

3>500 

20,000 

500 

6,800,000 



5,000 



$200,000 

5,430,000 

16,600.000 

20,250,000 

3,450,000 

137,000 

3,970,000 

9, 1 70,000 

9,100,000 

3,300,000 

160,500 

6So,ooo 

57.500 
6,920,000 

2,000 
86,000 

6,000 
81,000 



$30,800,000 



$48,800,000 



$79,600,000 



J^'rom the "Resources of the Rocky Mountains," by M J. Farmer, 
we copy below some statistical tables and facts, adding thereto the 
production of the last few years to bring the report down to the 
present time : — 

Go/J and Silver— WorhPs Prodiution and Supply. 

iK.UI. Silver. 

vStock in 1492 $500,000,000 $400,000,000 

Production 1492 to 1 84S 3,200,000.000 7,000,000,000 

Stock in 1848 . - 53,700,000,000 $7,400,000,000 



MARVELS OF MINING. ^\^ 

Yearly Production since 1S4S. 

Gold. • Silver. 

1S4Q $61,500,000 $39,000,000 

1S30 70,500,000 39,000,000 

185 1 81,500,000 40,000,000 

1852 132,750,000 40,600,000 

iS:;3 155,450,000 40,600,000 

1S54 127,450,000 40,600,000 

1855 135,070,000 40,600,000 

1856 147,600,000 40,650,000 

1857 133,275,000 40,650,000 

1S58 124,650,000 40,650,000 

1859 124,850,000 40,750,000 

i860 119,250,000 40,800,000 

1S61 ' ... 113,800,000 42,700,000 

1862 107,750,000 45,200,000 

1863 106,950,000 49,200,000 

1S64 113,000,000 51,700,000 

1865 120,200,000 51,950,000 

1866 121,100,000 50,725,000 

1867 114,025,000 54,225,000 

1868 . 109,725,000 50,225,000 

1869 . 106,225,000 47,500,000 

1870 106,850,000 51,575,000 

1 87 1 107,000,000 61,050,000 

1872 99,550,000 65,250,000 

1873 96,200,000 89,250,000 

1S74 . .' 90,750,000 71,500,000 

1875 97,500,000 80,500,000 

1876 95,000,000 74,000,000 

1S77 , 97,000,000 81,000,000 

1S78 86,500,000 73,500,000 

1879 . . 105,400,000 81,037,500 

1880 94,800,000 72,125,000 

1881 110,000,000 94,000,000 



Totals $3,613,175,000 $1,833,112,000 

Sztmmarv. 

Onld. Silver. 

Stock in 1492 $500,000,000 $400,000,000 

Production 1492 to 1848 3,200,000,000 7,000,000,000 

Production 1849 to 1881 3,613,175,000 1,833,112,000 

Totals $7,313,175,000 $9,233,112,000 

An estimate of the aggregate production of tlie precious metals 
in all countries, from 1493 to 1881, inclusive, is as follows : — 



=;i8 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



NATIONS. 


GOLD. 


SILVER. 


TOT.\LS. 


Germany 

'\ustria-Hun<Tarv 


$339,000,000 
750,000,000 
195,000,000 
765,000,000 
894,000,000 

1,500,000,000 
100,000,000 
216,000,000 
875,000,000 
195,000,000 

1,630,000,000 
100,000,000 


$403,000,000 
398,000,000 

134,000,000 

1,565,000,000 

1,869,000,000 

125,000,000 

3,300,000,000 


$403,000,000 

734,000,000 

750,000,000 

329,000,000 

765,000,000 

894,000,000 

1,500,000,000 

1,665,000,000 

2,085,000,000 

1,000,000,000 

3,495,000,000 




Chili 




New Granacia 

Australia 

Peru 


Potosi (Bolivia) 

Russia . . . .... 


Mexico 

United States 


Other countries . . . 


350,000,000 450,000,000 














1 



1\) the above one billion dollars more must be added to .show the 
grand total to January, 1886, one-half oi which should be credited to 
the United States. The aggregate reaches above seventeen billion 
eiollars. 

It is upon True Fissure veins that the great bonanza mines of the 
world have been located. Their names and productions are as 
follows : — 

Bissenna Silver Mine $16,311,000 

Santa Anna " 21,347,000 

Valaneta " 31,813,000 

Parniillian " 70,000,000 

Veta Madre " 335,935.000 

Comstock " 365,000,000 

Rio (Jrande " 650,000,000 

Sierra Madre " 800,000,000 

Potosi " 1,000,000,000 

The world's annual production of gold and silvei, of which the United 

States produces fully one-half, is at present $200,000,000 

During the last twenty-five years, India has taken an average of $38,000,000, 
and China $9,000,000, making the average yearly absorption of silver by 
these nations 47,000,000 

In the arts, the United States is using in gold and silver $1 5,000,000 yearly, 

and the rest of the world fully $35,000,000 more, making in all per annum 50,000,000 

Counting loss and abrasion 3,000,000 

We have left for the purposes of coinage for the entire world only . . . $100,000,000 



MARVELS OF MIXING. 519 

The report of J. Ross Browne on the " Mineral Resources of the 
United States west of the Rocky Mountains," has the followini;-, 
which we copy that the reader may contrast twenty years ago with 
now : — 

" From the best information available, the following; is a near ap- 
proximation to the total gold and silver product for the year ending- 
Jan. I, 1867 : — 

California ^25,000,000 j Oregon $2,000,000 

Nevada 20,000,000 | Colorado 2,500,000 

Montana 12,000,000 j New Mexico 500,000 

Idaho 6,500,000 Arizona ^ ^0,000 

Washington 1,000,000 Total ^70,000,000 

" Add for bullion derived from unknown sources within our States 
and Territories, unaccounted for by assessors and express companies, 
etc., $5,000,000. 

"Total product of the United States, $75,000,000. 

"The bullion product of Washington is estimated by the surveyor- 
general at $1,500,000. That of Oregon is rated as high as $2,500,- 
000. Intelligent residents of Idaho and Montana represent that the 
figures given in the above estimate, so far as these Territories are 
concerned, are entirely too low, and might be doubled without exceed- 
ing the truth. The product of Idaho alone for this year is said to be 
from $15,000,000 to $18,000,000. That of Montana is estimated by 
the surveyor-general at $20,000,000. Similar exceptions are taken 
to the estimates of Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. As I have 
no grounds for accepting these statements beyond the assertion that 
most of the bullion is carried away in the pockets of the miners, I 
am inclined to rely upon the returns of the assessors, express com- 
panies, and official tables of experts. Admitting that a fraction over 
seven per cent may have escaped notice, although reasonable allow- 
ance is made for this in the estimate of $70,000,000, ami that a con- 
siderable sum may be derived from sources not enumerated, I feel 
confident the allowance of $5,000,000 is sufficient to cover the entire 
bullion product of the United States for the year 1867 ; thus making 
the aggregate from all sources $75,000,000, as stated in the report of 
the Secretary of the Treasury. 

" I have endeavored to obtain returns of the annual product of 
each State and Territory since 1848 ; but, for the reasons already 
stated, and in the absence of reliable statistics, it has been impossi- 
ble to make the necessary division with more than approximate accu- 



520 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

racy. As nearly as I can judge from the imperfect returns available, 
the following", in round numbers, is not far from the total product : — 

California $900,000,000 

Nevada 90,000,000 

Montana 65,000,000 

Idaho 1 45,000,000 

Washington io,coo,000 

Oregon 20,000,000 

Colorado 25,000,000 

New Mexico and Arizona . . . ■ 5,000,000 

In jewelry, plate, spoons, etc., and retained for circulation on Pacific coast . 45,000,000 

Total §1,205,000,000 

" Add for amounts buried or concealed, and amounts from un- 
enumerated sources, and of which no account may have been taken, 
$50,000,000, and we have $1,255,000,000. 

" This statement requires explanation. Up to 1855 a considera- 
ble portion of the gold taken from California was not manifested.^ 
In 1849 the actual yield was probably $10,000,000 ; in 1850, $35,000,- 
000; in 185 1, $46,000,000; in 1852, 550,000,000; in 1853, $60,000,- 
000; and in 1854, $53,000,000." 

" Have precious gems been found in the \ew West .' " it is asked. 
Yes ; opals, topaz, amethyst, agates, jasper, onyx, garnets, carnelian, 
chalcedony, jet, sapphires, malachite, azurite, tourmaline, beryl, crys- 
tal, sardonyx, and diamonds, — all these are found in the New West, 
though not in that profusion, of course, for which they are known in 
the Orient. 

MORALS OF MINING CAMPS. 

Roughs became a prominent factor in the early history of most 
mining camps. But, in self-defence, the moral and reliable citizens 
soon weeded them out. Mining camps that have outgrown their 
swaddling-clothes will show a large per cent of intelligent, honest, 
enterprising, and virtuous citizens. Twenty years ago, when mining 
in the New West was in its infancy. Bayard Taylor visited many min- 
ing camj)s of Colorado, and, in a volume which he published subse- 
quently, he said : — 

"The degree of refinement which I have found in the remote 
mining districts of Colorado has been a great surprise. California, 

1 Large amounts were buried by miners to conceal it, and many of these miners died, su 
that their concealed treasures are buried still, except in a few instances where they have 
been accidentally unearthed. 



MARVELS OF MINING. 52 1 

after ten years settlement, retained a proportion of the rough, origi- 
nal mining element ; but Montana has acted as a social strainer to 
Colorado ; or, rather, as a miner's pan, shaking out a vast deal of 
dirt and leaving the gold behind. Mr. Leonhardy and his neighbors 
live in rude cabins, but they do not therefore relinquish the graces of 
life. It is only the Jialf cultivated who, under such circumstances, 
relapse towards barbarism. Mountain life soon rubs off the veneer- 
ing, and we know of what wood men are made." 

VVc think that Charles li. Shinn, author of " Mining Camps," puts 
the matter clearly in the following paragraph : — 

"As we have seen, there were times in almost every camp when 
the rowdy element came near ruling, and only the powerful and 
hereditary organizing instincts of the Americans present ever brought 
order out of chaos. In nearly every such crisis, there were men of 
the right stamp at hand, to say the brave word, or do the brave act ; 
to appeal to Saxon love of fair play ; to seize the murderer, or defy 
the mob. Side by side in the same gulch, working in claims of eight 
paces square, were, perhaps, fishermen from Cape Ann, loggers from 
Penobscot, farmers from the Genesee Valley, physicians from the 
prairies of Iowa, lawyers from Maryland and Louisiana, college grad- 
uates from Yale, Har\'ard, and the University of Virginia. From so 
variously mingled elements, came that terribly exacting mining-camp 
society, which tested with pitiless and unerring tests each man's 
individual manhood, discovering his intrinsic worth or weakness with 
almost superhuman precision, until at last the ablest and best men 
became leaders. They fought their way to the surface through fierce 
oppositions, and with unblenching resolution suppressed crime, and 
built up homes in the region they had learned to love." 

The Anglo-Saxon race finally asserts itself in the mining camp, to 
control its boisterous elements, as it does in the town. 

Mr. Shinn eloquently discusses this matter in another and grander 
phase, thus : — 

"Though every mining camp perished to-morrow, the impulse that 
gave them birth would still survive. The local life, strength, and 
energy of the early camps has already passed as a powerful force, not 
as a name, into the warp and woof of society. , . . 

" We walk the streets of San Francisco, — leaders in business here, 
who once were citizens of a camp and swingers of picks in the beds 
of mountain torrents. We enter the political field, — giants of debate 
and caucus here, whose first efforts to control their fellow-men were 
under the Mariposa oaks, or beneath the dome of Shasta. We 



5:2 MAKVELS OF THE AElf 11 EST. 

traverse the pastoral regions of the West, prairies dotted for miles 
with cattle, herds upon a thousand hills, — sun-browned patriarchal 
princes here, a hundred herdsmen at their command, five hundred 
horses in their juaiiadas. . . . We visit the prosperous and beautiful 
colonies of Southern California, fair as a garden of the Lord, — realms 
of chcrr}- and apple, olive and orange, grape and pomegranate, fig and 
guava, loquat and passiflora, fruits and flowers of two broad zones, 
mingled in rapturous profusion underneath azure skies as of Capri 
and Sicily, — and here also, in the midst of colonists from all parts ot 
the world, is some man of pre-eminent force and dignity of character, 
trained in the school of the early mines, transmuting by earth's subtle 
alchemy his golden nuggets of '49 to \et more golden apples of Hes- 
perides, and planting golden-banded lilies of Osaka in the place of 
golden leaves from Proserpine's subterranean gardens. We may 
even seek the great cities, whither all currents flow, — New York, 
London, Paris, Berlin, St. Petersburg, — the marts of commerce, the 
counting-houses of Barings and Rothschilds, the courts of czar and 
emperor, the wonderful Broadways of many a metropolis, flowing like 
Amazonian rivers day and night without pause, and we shall find 
men long trained in the lessons of the mining camps, walking as calm 
conquerors through the midst of this world of tumult, action, and 
des^ierate struggle, ruling railroad systems, laying ocean cables, plan- 
ning for isthmus canals, aiding in a thousand enterprises that require 
energy, capital, know^ledge of men, and prestige of former success, yet 
faithful in heart, cosmopolites though they are, to the memories of 
their young manhood, the companions of their Argonautic quest, the 
' pards ' of their pick-and-shovel days in Sierra or Rocky. Upon facts 
like these rest the social results of the mining-camp training." 

True, corruption abounds in mining camps ; and so it does out- 
side. Vice and crime revel in some mining communities; so they do 
in a multitude of towns and cities throughout the land. Leadville. 
San b'rancisco, and even \'irginia City, cannot compete with New 
York, Cincinnati, and Chicago, in the martyrdom of virtue. Neither 
ignorance nor immorality offer up such holocausts of human happi- 
ness in the New West as appall the East and South. With all their 
vices, the character of mining camps averages better than their repu- 
tation. 



%^=-^^. 




—^1 J F M^ttl < n |U==- 



MINING KINGS. 



524 MAKTELS OF THE NEW UEST. 



MININC; KINCiS. 



HORACE A. W. TABOR. 

The life of H. A. W. Tabor is an illustration of the adage, " Prov- 
idence helps those who help themselves," as well as of the following 
passage from Shakespeare : — 

'•There is a tide in the affairs of men. 
Wliich tal<en at the flood, leads on to fortune." 

He was born in Orleans County, Vermont, Nov. 26, 1830. In 
1855 he emigrated to Kansas and engaged in farming. As an active 
member of the Free Soil party, he participated in the decisive scenes 
which marked the period during the dark days of border ruffianism. 
He was a member of the Topeka legislature in 1857, which was dis- 
persed by Colonel Sumner at the point of the bayonet, by order of 
President Pierce. In 1859 he came to Colorado and went at once to 
Clear Creek County, spending the following winter in Denver. He 
located the next spring in California Gulch, where he was exclusively 
engaged in mining up to 1865. He then began merchandising, and 
followed it in connection with mining from that time on with varied 
success until May i, 1878. At that time, although he had not suc- 
ceeded in acquiring great wealth, he was far from poor, having accu- 
mulated a competency of some $35,000. 

During these years of his mercantile life in California Gulch, he 
was always the hrm friend of tlie miner ami prospector; and it is 
said of him that he was ever ready to give them credit, however un- 
fortunate may have been their successive ventures. In May, 1878, 
August Rische and George F. Hook, whom he had "grub-staked," 
made the discovery of the mine which has since become famous as 
the " Little Pittsburg," he being entitled by the agreement to one- 
third. Mr. Hook soon afterward disposed of his interest in the claim 
to liis partners, and I\Ir. Rische, in tiu-n, sold out to the Hon. j. H. 
Chaffee and D. H. Moffat, Jr. 

In 1879 Mr. Tabor disposed of his interest in tlie Little Pittsburg 
for $1,000,000, Messrs. Chaffee and Moffat being the purchasers, and 
then purchased about one-half of the stock of the First National 
Bank of Denver, at the same time purchasing the Matchless mine at 
Leadville. He also owned a fourth interest in the mining projierty, 
of Borden, Tabor & Co., comprising five or six mines wliicli \ielded 
;g 100,000 a month. Of his mining property in the San Juan country, 



MARVELS OF MINING. 525 

we mention the Alaska, Adelphi, Acapuico, and the Victory mines, 
situated in Poughkeepsie Gulch, in all of which he is interested, 
besides which, he is the sole owner of the Red Roger and the Saxon. 
All these mines are in an advanced stage of development. He has 
also valuable mining property in Alpine. Although making such 
extended investments in mines, with the result of inspiring confi- 
dence in the mineral resources of Colorado, and attracting other cap- 
italists to the new State, he has not confined his attention to mining- 
interests alone, but has employed a portion of his wealth in perma- 
nent improvements in both Leadville and Denver, owning in the 
latter city alone, about $225,000 worth of real estate. During the 
year 1880 he completed a fine brown-stone front, five-story building, 
costing about $165,000, on the corner of Sixteenth and Larimer 
streets, the ground floor being devoted to elegant stores, the First 
National Bank occupying the corner. 

In Leadville, in addition to his mining property, he has some 
$65,000 worth of real estate. His fine opera-house, costing about 
$35,000, was completed in sixty days from the letting of the con- 
tracts. Senator Tabor was for a long time a director of the First 
National Bank of Denver, and also vice-president of this bank. He 
held the office of county treasurer of Lake County, and was mayor of 
Leadville during the first fourteen months of its existence as a city. 
He was also president of the Leadville Improvement Company, to 
which is due the only really fine street in Leadville, — Harrison Av- 
enue, ninety feet wide, — which this company laid out and donated to 
the city. He was also president of the Leadville Gas Company, 
which was organized in July, 1879, and on the ist of November fol- 
lowing had three and a half miles of mains laid. Senator Tabor's 
decision of character, quickness of perception and promptness of 
action mark his every movement. He no sooner decides than he 
begins to act. To illustrate : The transaction before alluded to, by 
which he closed out his remaining stock in the Little Pittsburg Mining- 
Company for $1,000,000, bought eight hundred and eighty shares of 
the First National Bank of Denver, and at the same time purchased 
the Matchless mine at Leadville for $117,000, took place in the short 
space of fifteen minutes. 

In October, 1878, he was elected the first lieutenant-governor of 
Colorado, and believing no man should accept a public trust without 
performing its labors to the best of his ability, he at once devoted his 
attention to preparing himself for parliamentary duties, and, as pres- 
ident of the senate, acquitted himself with great honor, and proved 



526 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

one of the best parliamentarians \\\\o ever occupied the position of 
presiding- officer over that body. Governor Tabor's heavy invest- 
ments in Chicago property have attracted the attention of the whole 
country, and produced a stimulating" effect upon the real estate mar- 
ket of that city. 

The grand-opera house building, the handsomest in America, was 
erected in 1882, and it will ever remain a lasting monument to Mr. 
Tabor's enterprise, public spirit, and generosity. His election to the 
United States Senate in 1883, by the legislature of Colorado, was a 
fitting testimonial of the high regard entertained for him by his 
Colorado admirers. Although for a limited period, it was none the 
less a high honor of which any man might feel proud. 

Under his management the Matchless mine has been a constant 
producer, amounting in some months as high as S8o,ooo. 

His investment comprising 175,000 acres of copper lands in the 
State of Texas, promise him a future income beyond calculation. 
Another investment illustrating his sagacity and keen business judg- 
ment is the 4,600,000 acres of cattle-grazing lands in Southern Colo- 
rado. In addition, Senator Tabor is largely interested in numerous 
mining companies, irrigating canals, mining and other enterprises, 
giving employment to hundreds of men, and aiding in the develop- 
ment of the vast resources of our New West. 

His concession from the i)resident of the Republic of Honduras 
is a veritable "Aladdin's lamp" opportunity. It comprises every al- 
ternate section of land, for four hundred miles, bordering upon the Pa- 
took River. Upon this land are immense groves of mahogany, ebony, 
and other valuable woods ; banana and other tropical fruit orchards ; 
gold, silver, coal, and other mineral deposits. In addition to the sec- 
tion grant, he has a mineral grant of one hundred and fifty square 
miles in the interior. Mr. Tabor is probably the largest land-owner 
in the world. 

His great Tam O'Shanter group of mines near Aspen, Colorado, 
* the famous New Mexico mines, the wonderful acres of mineral depos- 
its, comprising his Old Mexico properties, and other possessions, 
really makes it too exhaustive to even enumerate. 



JOHN L. ROUTT. 

He was born in Eddyville, L^on Countv, Kentuck\-, in 1826. In 
1835, when John was ten years old, his parents removed to Blooni- 
ington. 111., where he lived on a farm four years. There was not 



MARVELS OF MINING, 527 

excitement and promise enough in farm life to a boy of his enterpris- 
ing spirit, and lie desired another vocation. His parents were in- 
clined to favor his choice, and, after canvassing the matter quite 
thoroughly, John was apprenticed to a carpenter. Before the carpen- 
ter's trade was fully learned, however, circumstances seemed to favor 
a change, and he shifted to the trade of a machinist, continuing to fol- 
low it until he was twenty-five years of age. His tact in trading, with 
a strong inclination in that direction, led him about that time into 
speculation in land and stocks. His ability in this line drew atten- 
tion to him, and he became the first collector of Bloomington town- 
ship in 1858, and in i860 was made sheriff of his county. The war 
of the Rebellion soon broke out, and he became a soldier in the 
Union army. Here, his tact, ability, and loyalty, attracted the atten- 
tion of the officers under whom he served, and, without even an 
application on his part, he was appointed assistant quartermaster, 
with rank of captain. He proved to be the right man in the right 
place. Important trusts were committed to him, and he discharged 
them with a promptness and fidelity that won the confidence of his 
superior officers. His accounts with the government were kept so 
accurately, that, at the close of the war, they were adjusted without 
the least difficulty, — a fact that could not be stated of a large num- 
ber of quartermasters in the Union army. 

At the close of the war, he returned to Bloomington, and soon 
after was elected count}- treasurer, an office which he filled very 
acceptably four years. In this j^osition he rendered efficient service 
in settling the "bounty cases," and also in planning and building 
the magnificent court-house in Bloomington. 

In 1869 President Grant appointed him chief clerk in the bureau 
of second assistant postmaster-general, at Washington, in which 
office he proved himself able and efficient, until the President ap- 
pointed him United States marshal' for the southern district of Illi- 
nois, in 1870. Both of these positions were offered to him without 
any solicitation on his part. Offices came to him unsought, for lie 
was in no sense a scheming politician. 

He had acted as United States marshal scarcely a year, when he 
received the appointment by telegram from Washington, of second 
assistant postmaster-general. His efficiency when he was chief clerk 
of that bureau was the reason of this appointment. A good chief 
clerk would make a good assistant postmaster-general. He contin- 
ued in this office until 1875, when the President a]:)pointed him Terri- 
torial governor of Colorado. The appointment was so popular at 



528 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

Washington that Congress determined to do him special honor by 
their confirmation. On receipt of the appointment, the Senate went 
into executive session immediately, and, in eight minutes after being 
called to order, confirmed his nomination by a unanimous vote. The 
same ability and fidelity which had characterized him in other posi- 
tit)ns, made him successful and honored as Territorial governor. He 
won the public confidence so largely, that one year later, when Col- 
orado became a State, he was elected its first governor. Large- 
hearted, public-spirited, with uncommon practical ability, his guber- 
natorial career was a grand success. 

On retiring from public life, he engaged in the mining business 
at Leadville. He purchased the Morning Star, in October, 1877, for 
one thousand dollars. Of course the mine was not a promising one ; 
the low price proves that. But Routt could see further into the 
ground than many people, and he had strong faith in his purchase 
He pushed the development of his mine, sometimes under discourag- 
ing circumstances, every month running into debt, paying eighteen 
per cent interest for borrowed money. The resolute man kept push- 
ing forward for about two years, when his perseverance and foresight 
were rewarded by discovering the richest silver mine in Colorado. 
Before its full value was determined, he sold two-fifths of the mine in 
order to pay the heavy debt under which he was staggering. Soon 
afterwards he found that he possessed a mine which three inillion dol- 
lars ($3,000,000) could not buy. It yielded him fifty thousand dollars 
($50,000) per month. 

Mr. Routt resides in Denver, occupying one of its palatial residen- 
ces, looking after his mining interests, which are extensive and pro- 
lific, and sharing the confidence of the community whose welfare he 
has ever sought to promote. 



JOHN P. JONES. 

John p. Jones was born in Herefordshire, England, in 1830, being 
now fifty-seven years of age. His parents were upright antl intelli- 
gent, as well as enterprising and industrious. His father hoped to 
improve his material condition by emigrating to the United States, 
ar_d he came to this counlr\- before John was a year old. He settled 
in the northern part of Ohio, where he purchased government lands, 
and devoted himself to farming. John began to labor on the farm 
as soon as he was old enough, and was an energetic, plucky boy. Be- 
fore he was twelve years old, he was an indispensable aid to his 



MARVELS OF MINING. 529 

father, his filial love and obedience always controlling his service. 
He early enjoyed the small advantages of the inferior schools of that 
day and region, improving his time with commendable application. 
Soon after entering upon his teens, he was sent to school at Cleveland 
for a time. His stay was comparatively short, however, as the purse 
of his father was not sufficiently ample to endure a heavy strain ; and 
then the farm demanded his labors. 

He was eighteen years old when gold was discovered in California ; 
and the excitement occasioned thereby throughout the country 
caught him up in its whirlwind sweep, and set him down at the 
"Golden Gate." His parents were not altogether in favor of this 
great change, since they possessed a somewhat just estimate of the 
society of a new country, and especially the temptations of a mining 
camp. But the enterprising spirit of the boy, and the hope that 
everything would turn out for the best, secured their consent finally ; 
and so, with plenty of good advice and a small caj^ital, he hurried 
away to California, where he began both farming and mining in one 
of the inland counties. That he was successful in a good degree is 
evident from the fact that he won the confidence of his fellow-citi- 
zens as to character and ability. They committed to him important 
trusts, and finally elected him to the General Assembly, and after- 
wards to the State senate. For a series of years he was personally 
identified with public interests, at the same time accumulating con- 
siderable property, though not rich according to the California 
standard. 

When public attention was turned to the silver mines of Nevada, 
in 1867, he resolved to take up his abode in that Territory and strike 
for a fortune. Going thither he found almost insurmountable obsta- 
cles in his way, not the least of which were the depredations of the 
Apache Indians. But his courage and perseverance served him a 
gootl purpose, and, in spite of savages and desperadoes, he pursued 
his mining operations with marked success. Wealth poured in upon 
him, not only by thousands, but also by millions ; and the Ohio 
farmer boy soon became known as the Nevada millionnaire. As 
"money makes the mare go" in the New West, as it does elsewhere, 
his influence and popularity increased with his riches, and Nevadians 
soon learned to submit valuable trusts to his care. Finally, he was 
elected to the United States Senate as one of the silver kings of 
silvery Nevada. He took his seat in the Senate, as a Republican, on 
March 4, 1873. He has been twice re-elected to that position 
by the Republican party of Nevada, and his present senatorial term 



530 MARl'KLS OF THE A'JJI' WAS/. 

will expire on March 3, 1891. Should he live to comjilete his pres- 
ent term of service, it will make a round eii;"hteen years of senatorial 
life, a fact that proves his labors in this public capacity to have 
been satisfactorv to his constituents. 



JAMES GRAHAM FAIR. 

James G. Fair was bt)rn near Belfast, Ireland. Dec. 3, 1831, and 
is therefore one vear tlie junior of Senator Jones. His parents 
came to this countr)- in 1843, when James was twelve years old. 
They settled in Illinois, which was on the outskirts of civilization at 
that time. A purchase of government land secured a farm of ample 
dimensions on which James worked with his father, at the same time 
attending school whenever an opportunity offered. The school privi- 
leges of Illinois were very limited then, but such as they were he 
enjoved, and finally went to school for a time in Chicago. This con- 
stituted all the schooling he ever had. 

He was seized with the gold fever in 1849, and it raged for months 
before his parents consented that he should go to California. Seeing 
no prospect of curing the fever b}- any remedies known to them, they 
yielded to his importunities, and away he went to the El Dorado that 
had lured his soul. He engaged in mining at once ; and with com- 
mendable industry and perseverance was tolerably successful, though 
he by no means realized his high expectations. Me maintained his 
integrity, however, amidst the temptations and corruptions of the 
mining camp, antl never so much as abandcuied the thcnight of mak- 
ing a fortune in that land of gold. Thus he plannetl and labored 
until i860, when he concluded that Nevada was nearer to a fortune 
for him than California was. He was financially prepared to engage 
in business in that Territory, which is considerable more than could 
be said of many who emigrated to that Apache-smitten country. He 
began operations at once, in a s])irit that seemed to assure success at 
an)- price ; and his operations enlarged raj)idl\- to huge dimensions. 
No bonanza worker ever constructed larger quartz-mills, nor built 
water-works on a more practicable and gramlei- scale. He was now 
successful even beyond his anticipations. His income increased to 
such an extent as to startle himself. He got more than he bargained 
for. His riches became immense speedil)-. The poor Irish boy 
became a millionnaire almost before he dreamed of such an expe- 
rience. 

At that time John W. Mackay. James C. Mood, ami William S. 



MARl'ICLS (>/■■ MINING. 53 I 

I 
0'I-5ricn, were suceessful miners in California, and Fair entered into 
partnership witli tliem. This union made a remarkably strong- firm 
financially, and they "purchased the control ot the l^onanzas and 
various other welldviiown mines," in Nevada, which turned out wealth 
to fabulous amounts. Mr. h'air superintended the operations, and it 
is claimed that, during the time he mana<;-e(l the business, over two 
hundred million dollars were taken (nit of the mines. He is exten- 
sively en,i;aL';ed, also, in the manufactures of tlie I'acitic coast, and in 
real estate and building; in San I^'rancisco. lie is not now a member 
of the firm spoken of, havini;' withdrawn several years ago. Mis 
wealth is estimated at twelve uiillioiis. He was elected to the United 
.States Senate, and took his seat March 4, i(S8i. His term of service 
expired March 3. i^^<^7, ^uid he retired to ])rivate life. 

JEROME B. CHAFFEE. 

The life of Jerome 1>. Chaffee was identified with the history of 
Colorado. He was born in Niagara County, State of New York, 
April 17, i(S25. lie received an academic education, and when 
quite young removed to Michigan. Subsecjuently he removed to St. 
Joseph, Mo., where he engaged in banking. In 1.S57 he organized 
the IClmwood Town Company, in Kansas, and became secretary and 
manager. In the spring of i860 he took up his abode in Colorado 
f(jr the ])in"pose of mining. He located in what is now Gilpin County ; 
and, in company with h^ben Smith, erected the Smith & Chaffee 
Stamp Mill. 

He secured the consolidation of several lodes, known since as the 
famcnis " Bob-Tail Lode and Tunnel," its name being derived from 
the fact that a bob-tailed ox, harnessed to a drag, was used for hauling 
the jxiy-dirt to the gulch for sluicing. In 1869 he effected anothei- and 
large consolidation, and became the heaviest stockowner in the com- 
pany. This company became known as the most prosperous as well as 
most extensive mining corporation in Colorado, producing annually 
from ^^300,000 to $500,000. A few years thereafter Mr. Chaffee 
owned a hundred gold and siKer lodes — more than any other man 
in Colorado at that time. Among them was the celebrated Carabou 
Silver Mine. He was a stockholder also in the celebrated "Little 
Pittsburg Consolidated Mining Company." 

In 1865 Mr. Chaffee jnirchased the business of Clark & Co., 
bankers in Denver, and organized the I'irst National Bank, of which 
he became president, and continued in that office until 1880. Under 



532 MARl'KLS OF THE X/iir ll'KST. 

his manaj;ement this bank became one of the most reliable and popu- 
lar institutions of the kind in the country. 

His political career began in 1861, when he was sent from Gilpin 
County to the first Territorial Legislature as a Republican. In 1863, 
he was returned to the Legislature, and was elected speaker of the 
House of Representatives. In 1865 the people of Colorado organ- 
ized a State government under an enabling act of Congress, and Mr. 
Chaffee was elected Unitetl States Senator. 

In Congress, he was very industrious and influential, securing the 
passage of many acts of great benefit, not only to Colorado, but to 
other States as well. It was through his efforts that necessary and 
beneficial legislation in behalf of the Indians was accomplished at 
that time. 

In 1876, under the new State government, he was elected again 
to the United States Senate, with Hon. H. ]\I. Teller, drawing the 
short term, which began December, 1876, and expired March 3, 1879. 
The longer he continued in Congress, the more valuable his public 
services became. During his short term in the United States Senate 
he was influential in securing enactments for the better development 
of the mining interest in the New West, improvement in the methods 
of managing railroads, together with several other matters of equal 
importance to the countrv. 

Mr. Chaffee was a pronounced Republican, and was sent as dele- 
gate to every presidential nominating convention, from the birth of 
the party to the time of his death, which occurred in 1884. He was 
the possessor of great wealth, and used it freely in developing the 
resources and promoting the interests of his own State, whose people 
cherish his memory because of the debt of gratitude under which his 
public acts placed them. " Accustomed to enterprises of great mag- 
nitude, he was, in business, distinguished for great breadth of views, 
quickness of perception, and promptness of action, which enabled him 
to comprehend almost instantlv plans of the greatest moment, and at 
once to put them into execution." 

NATHANIEL P. HILL. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Orange County. State of 
New York, in 1832. His father was a farmer, more intelligent and 
enterprising than many of his fraternity in that locality ; and these 
qualities gave him popularity and influence in town and county. He 
served the State as a member of the General Legislative Assembly, 



MARl'l'-.LS OF MINING. 533 

and for a number of years tilled the oifice of county jud<;e credita- 
bly. He valued culture, and .s()uy,ht the best school advanta<;es for 
Ills children that the times and place afforded. His wife, the mother 
of our subject, was a heli)mate in every sense of the word, fitted by 
her intellii;"ence and solidity of character, to occupy the hi<;hest seat 
of honor with her husband. 

Nathaniel had a ^^ood start, of course. To start well from the 
fireside is a j^ood start indeed. Many fail in life foi" the want of it. 
It helped him to succeed. He loved books and school, was obedi- 
ent, willini;- to woii<, enterprisinii; and persistent, just the boy to be 
thou,<;ht well of in the neii;hborhoo(l. I'^arly in life he decided, in his 
own mind, to obtain a liberal education, and his paienls favored his 
ambition. He employed his evenings and leisure hours out of school 
in intellectual improvement. His plans were somewhat interrupted, 
however, by the d'^ath of his father, when Nathaniel was sixteen 
years of age. From that time the management of the farm depended 
on him, a responsibility which he accepted without any misgiving. 
Wliile taking good care of the large farm with its onerous burdens, he 
studied hard every evening and during the winter seasons, so that he 
was well fitted for college at twenty-one years of age, and entered 
Brown Unixersity, I^rovidence, R.I., where he distinguished himself 
as a scholar. Physical science was his favorite study ; and having 
graduated with high honors, he was immediately appointed tutoi- in 
the chemical department. His success there led to his appointment 
as professor of chemistry in i860, in which capacity he taught until 
1864. That year he was sent by a i)arty of Boston and Providence 
capitalists to Colorado, to report on the Beaubien land grant, with a 
\iew to a purchase. While there, his attention was directed to the 
wasteful metlKxls em]:)loyed to save the precious metals. He saw at 
once that the oi)p()rtunity for great improvement in the method of 
smelting ores was before him, and he sei/.t'd it. He studied the sub- 
ject thoroughly, visited the smelting establishments of Ivurope, and 
then, ha\ing secured the co-operation of abundant ca])ital, he organ- 
ized the " Boston and Colorado Smelting Company." .-\ furnace was 
erected at Black Hank, and was enlarged from year to year, as the 
business rapidly increased, and in 1878 the works were removed to 
iX'uver, where they ha\e grown into the enormous "Argo Snielting 
Works," the business of which, from its start, amounts to about tliirty- 
iiinc Diilliou dollars. The total weight of gold shipped by the com- 
pany to Jan. I, 1886, was /went)' tons of gold and seven huiidrcd a)id 
i'i ditv tons of silver. 



534 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

In 1879 Professor Hill was elected to the Senate of the United 
States, where he distinguished himself by his wisdom and ability. 
His influence was felt in almost every important measure before the 
Senate, and his record was unimpeachable from beginning to end. 

Although Professor Hill does not represent mining ores particu- 
larly, as do the mining kings to which attention has already been 
called, nevertheless, he represents a most important branch of the 
industry, which, under his efficient management, has served to 
develop the mineral resources of Colorado rapidly, successfully, and 
wonderfully. 

J. F. MATTHEWS. 

J. Y . Matthews was born on the island of Cuba, in 1847, and is 
now just forty years of age. His father was a sugar-dealer, the chief 
partner in the firm of Matthews & Safford, which had business con- 
nections with the well-known sugar-house of Moses Taylor in New 
York. At the age of eight years his father sent him to school in 
New York City. At twelve years of age he entered the college at 
Georgetown, D.C. After three years' study ill health forced him to 
leave college, and he returned to Cuba. F^or three years he was con- 
nected with a mercantile house in that island, then travelled exten- 
sively in luu-ope for pleasure and profit, finally accepting a clerkship 
in Paris with a large South American house. He remained three 
years in Paris, then returned to America, settling in Philadelphia, 
where he married a Miss Patterson, and accumulated some property 
in the shipping trade. 

In 1875 Mr. Matthews removed to Colorado, and entered into the 
business of ore sampling and concentration, at (icorgetown, the name 
of the firm being Matthews & Co. In 1875 the works were reduced 
to ashes by a disastrous fire. But with his accustomed pluck and 
energy, Mr. M. set himself to work at once to retrieve his fortune, 
the result of which was the firm of Matthews & Webb, " Ore and 
Bullion Brokers," of Denver. The amount of business which this 
company do may be learned from the fact that, in 1886, it amounted 
to three viillion dollars, and this year will exceed those figures. 
Another says: "J. F. Matthews is a gentleman of unusual ability. 
He has built up the great business just noticed from a very small 
beginning, having won the good will and confidence of e\-erv one by 
his high qualities as a citizen, and his i)erfect fairness and rectitude 
as a business man. 



V. MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 



I'^HE paradise of stock-raisers lies between the Missouri River 
and the Pacific coast. The New West is the kingdom of 
"cattle-kings." They live royally in this empire of prairie and 
valley. They spread a table for both Americans and Englishmen. 
Ubiquitous Yankees exchange courtesies with Brother Jonathan 
under the shadow of the snow-capped Rockies. All the cattle of 
the New West, gathered into one imposing "round up," would 
convert the " Great American Desert " into a stockyard, to chal- 
lenge the curiosity of the world. 

The statistician of the Department of Agriculture at Washington 
reports the whole number of farm animals in the United States, 
February, 1887, as follows : — 

Horses 12,496,744 Sheep 44,759,314 

Mult^s 2,117,141 .Swine 44,612,896 

Milch Cows 14,522,083 

Oxen and other cattle . . . 33,511,750 Total 152,019,928 

The following table shows what number of the sum total are 
found in the New West : — 



LOCALITY. 


HORSES. 


MULES. 


MILCH cows. 


OXEN AND 
OTHER CATTLE. 


SHEEP. 


SWINE. 


J- 




593,358 
382,389 
289,626 

167,775 
44.654 

123,770 
10,168 

227,027 
48,750 

129,203 
20,786 
56,136 
94,237 
82,500 


83,596 

40,358 

36,284 

3.155 

1,657 

8,165 

1,863 

11,964 

2,436 

9,229 

10,912 

3,579 
1,231 
2,850 


609,601 

333,8.39 
243,469 
75,959 
17,683 
57,294 
15,232 
199,480 
24,498 
29,095 
18,829 

44,544 

62,403 

6,358 


1.583,915 
1,048,200 
8,088,040 
643,245 
317,059 
1,070,768 

243.7'o 
710,934 
339,453 
812,784 

1,220,968 
219,842 
300,676 

1,255,298 


1,106,852 
439,700 

6,069,698 

2,593,029 
674,486 

1,149.178 
627,201 
256,209 
231,413 

754,688 
4,025,742 
658,285 
555,439 
534,020 


2,161,419 

2,382,168 

1,017,322 

229,920 

14,593 
21,290 
13,701 
427,176 
28,110 
20,263 
20,990 
28,656 
90,152 
2,750 


Nebraska . . 
California . . 






Nevada. . . . 
Colorado . . . 
Ari/A)na . . . 
Dakota .... 
Idaho. . . 




Montana . . . 
New Mexico . 

Utah 

Washington . 
Wyoming . . 




Totals .... 




2,270,379 


217,279 


1,738,284 


17,844,892 


19,675,940 16,458.510 



536 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

More than half the oxen and other cattle of the United States are 
in the New West, and nearly half of the sheep. The whole number 
of farm animals in the New West, at the present time, is 48,205,284, 
nearly one-third of the entire number in the United States. Add 
the animals in all the States west of the Mississippi, and the aggre- 
gate is about seventy-four millions, or nearly one-half the number in 
the whole country. The "oxen and other cattle " west of the Missis- 
sippi number about twenty-eight millions, which is more than five 
times the number east of the Mississippi. Adding sheep in the same 
way, and they number about twenty-seven million, which is ten mil- 
lion more than are found east of the Mississippi. 

The same authority at Washington reports the available pasturage 
of all grades of quality, still in possession of the government, after 
exaniination of the entire area, and consultation with stock-growers 
and others, as follows : — 

Acres. Acres. 

Dakota 75,000,000 Idaho 35,500,000 

Nebraska 47,000,000 1 Washington 25,300,000 

Kansas 50,000,000 Oregon 45,000,000 

New Mexico 63,374,400 | California 69,850,000 

^'^^^ 32,500,000 ; ^^^,^^^ 38,299.789 

Colorado 41;, 440,000 > • 

tj>t^ ' Arizona 40,000,000 

Wymnint,' 50,000,000 



Montana 68,500,000 ! Total 685,733,789 

Much of the so-called grazing land is annuall)' converted into ara- 
ble land ; so that the acreage of the former is constantly diminishing, 
while that of the latter is increasing. 

The foregoing statistics become more significant when we consider 
that only four of the fourteen States and Territories mentioned had 
any stock to report in 1850. Savages and herds of buffalo roamed 
over this vast domain, but stock-raisers were iniknown there. Ten 
years later, in i860, there were still five Territories having nothing of 
the kind to report. Mven Colorado had but just begun to live, with 
no stock-raising to record. The same was true of Arizona, Idaho, 
Montana, and Wyoming. As late as 1870, Colorado reported only 
6,446 horses, 1,173 niules, 25,017 milch cows, 5,566 working oxen, and 
40,153 other cattle — a total of 78,355. Of sheep, the Territory could 
boast of only 120,928, and of swine, 5,509. The value of all this 
live stock was only §2,871,102 — less than three million dollars ! The 
growth of this industry in Colorado, in sixteen years, is marvellous 
indeed. From two hundred thousand animals to more than three uiil- 
lioti ! From less than three million dollars in value to sixty >fii//ioii ! 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 537 

In 1870, Montana had but 5,289 horses, 475 mules, 12,432 milch 
cows, 1,761 working oxen, and 22,545 other cattle — a total of only 
42,502 — with 2,024 sheep and 2,599 swine. The whole value of this 
live stock was less than two million dollars. In sixteen years advan- 
cing from forty-eight thousand animals to one million tii<o hundred 
thousand — twenty-five times as many in sixteen years. From a value 
of less than two million dollars to nearly /c^/Yr million dollars. 

The growth of this industry in other parts of the New West is 
equally marked, but our limited space forbids further particulars. I 
may add, however, that as the States and Territories grow older, the 
grazing lands diminish and the farming lands increase. Only a few 
years ago, Kansas was an immense grazing section ; but now its lands 
are surveyed and fenced farms. Agriculture crowds out stock-raising. 
Within a few years the same will be true of Nebraska and Colorado ; 
and, finally, the whole New West will succumb to this process of 
bringing the land under cultivation. Not that stock-raising will be 
supplanted ; but improved breeds of cattle will be raised on fenced 
farms, where they can range over but a limited area, and where they 
will be stalled and fed in winter after the manner of the East. 

Governor Crittenden, of Missouri, addressed the first National 
Convention of Cattlemen in St. Louis, Nov. 17, 1884, and in his 
address, he facetiously remarked : — 

" No history, aside from the Bible, gives an authentic account of 
the origin of cattle. Two and two they went into the ark with man, 
and from that time to this they have been the objects of trade, com- 
manding at all times, from the day when Jacob outwitted his father- 
in-law, Laban, to this convention, the shrewdest and most refined 
intellects. Cassar, in his Commentaries, states that the British in his 
time had great numbers of cattle, though of no special size or beauty ; 
and those wild islanders were kept quite busy in keeping their cattle 
out of the way of the Roman eagles, showing that even then men 
and soldiers were no better than now — in 'handling stock.' The 
magnitude of the cattle trade in this country forms a subject of pro- 
found interest, not only to our own people, but also to those beyond 
the dividing seas. The immense herds, scattered from Maine to Cali- 
fornia, are the offspring of a single bull and one or more cows, im- 
ported into this country in 1493 by Christopher Columbus a few days 
before a custom house had been established upon our soil and officers 
appointed to vex travellers by inquisitive questions. They came 
in on the free list as raw material, and some acquisitive Mexicans, 
Americans, Indians, and negroes still think they are on the free list 



538 .\fARrEI^ OF THE XEIV J TEST. 

— only convinced to the contrary by 'a short shrift and a long rope' 
in the hands of some travelling judges who still believe in that old, 
solemn law of mine and thine." 

The magnitude of the cattle business, as expressed by the fore- 
going figures and remarks, was illustrated by Hon. Norman J. Cole- 
man. United States Commissioner of Agriculture, at the National 
Cattle-Growers' Association in Chicago. He said : — 

" If a solid column should be formed, twelve animals deep, one 
end resting at New York City, its centre encircling San Francisco, 
and its other arm reaching back to Boston, such a column would con- 
tain about the number which now forms the basis, the capital stock, 
so to speak, of the cattle industry of the United States." 

Mr. Carnegie says : '• Were the live stock upon Uncle Sam's 
estate ranged five abreast, each animal estimated to occupy a space 
five feet long, and marched round the world, the head and tail of the 
procession would overlap. This was the host of 1880; that of 1885 
would be ever so much greater, and still it grows day by day. and the 
end of the growth no man can foretell." 

On the average, if the live stock of our country were equally dis- 
tributed, each family would have a horse, cow. four pigs, and three 
sheep. It is claimed that the amount of capital invested in cows 
exceeds by $40,000,000 the amount invested in bank stocks ! The 
cattle, horses, sheep, and swine of the whole countrv represent a 
capital of tuv billion five hundred million dollars ($2,500,000,000). 

WHAT CATTLE EAT. 

Throughout a very large portion of the New \\"est cattle graze 
through the whole year, requiring little more attention than herds of 
buffalo. Without cut-feed or shelter they shirk for themselves, and 
appear in the spring ''round up," in a good condition, unless an 
exceptional cold and stormy winter has prevailed. The cut on the 
following page represents the two principal kinds of grass upon which 
cattle live and thrive between Missouri River and the foot-hills of the 
Rocky Mountains. 

These grasses may be called perennial ; for, springing up in the 
early season when their roots are bathed in moisture, they cover the 
great plains with an olive-green, which the excessive heat of a rain- 
less summer dries and cures as it stands, from six to twelve inches 
high. The drying and curing process preserves the juices of the 
grass, and when it goes to seed, by a remarkable provision of Provi- 



MARl'J'lLS OF ST()CK~R. USING. 



539 



dence the seed does not drop and waste, but it is held tii^htly t(j 
nourish the animal kingdom so dependent upon it. y\ll the nutri- 
ment is thus preserved ; and this aeeounts for the exeellent eondition 
of cattle that appear to relish these j^^rasses full as much when they 
are dry as when they are green. It is said that horses will leave the 
fresher and greener grass of 
the watercourse for this dried 
and cured hay, which appears 
innutritions and worthless to 
the traveller. The buffalo 
grass grows in bunches, as 
seen in the illustration, and 
both kinds stand up so stiffly 
that they are never broken 
down by the heaviest wind, 
rain, or snow. 

In the winter the tops of 
the grass, containing the most 
nutritious part, — the seeds, — 
peer above the snow for the 
particular accommodation of 
cattle. Or if, perchance, the 
snow is unusually deep, and 
covers them, the cattle accom- 
modate themselves readily to 
the situation, and with nose 
lay them bare and devour them. 
.Snow does not remain long 
upon the ground in the graz- 
ing country, so that if these 
grasses were completely buried 
in snow, ordinarily cattle would 
not starve in waiting for its disappearance. In many localities, too, 
they find sufficient feed on hillsides and other protected spots to 
satisfy hunger while other localities remain buried in snow. The 
cut on the next page represents a collection of Kansas grasses. 

A traveller in Montana furnishes the following interesting remarks 
respecting this remarkable bunch-grass : — 

"At first I supposed that the color was derived from the nature 
of the soil, but I afterwards found out, by actually travelling over 
them, that they were covered with a species of grass which, as it is 




BUFFALO GRAbb. 2. GRAMA GRASS. 

(Half Natural Size.) 



540 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



approached, has the appearance of ripe grain which has stood long 
enough to lose its bright yellow color. This is the famous bunch- 
grass of Montana and Dakota. It does not cover the ground like 
the cultiv^ated grasses of the East, or the blue grass of Kentucky 
and adjoining States, but grows in scattered bunches, so that, 

although, seen from a little 
distance, the ground appears 
to be entirely covered with it, 
it actually stands very thinly 
over the surface. This bunch- 
grass comes up in the spring 
and gets its growth during 
the rains of early summer. 
Then, when the dry season 
begins, the seed which it 
bears upon the top ripens, 
but instead of falling out, as 
the seeds of most grasses 
would do, is firmly held in 
the head which encloses it, 
and remains upon the stalk 
until the following spring. 
The stalk itself is strong and 
wiry, containing an abun- 
dance of silica, and is not 
easily broken. 

" When the cattle are turned 
out upon a range covered with 
bunch-grass, they browse off 
the heads containing the 
seeds, but do not eat the 
leaves and stalk, which are as 
destitute of nutrition as the 
stalks of rye, barley, or wheat would be. But the seeds seem to have 
concentrated in them all the elements fitted to furnish food for cattle 
which the grass, during its short period of growth, has been able to 
draw from the remarkably rich soil, and their fattening qualities are 
said to l)e eciual to tliose of the best grain. It is because the cattle 
feed uj^on these seeds, rather than upon the leaves and stalks of 
grass, that Montana beef is of so much better quality than that raised 
in the Territories farther south." 




.^0 Ci 

KANSAS GRASSES. 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAJSING. 



541 



CATTLE RANCH. 

The first thing for the would-be stock-raiser to do is to secure a 
ranch. In Colorado he would do this b}' buying" out a stockman who 
wants to sell, because all the government lands in that State are 
taken up. In New Mexico he would probably purchase government 
land, always selecting it where cattle can find plenty of water. 

The following illustrations of homes on cattle ranches are the 
actual representations of homes that now e.xist. 








HOME ON A CATTLE RANCH. 



The above illustration represents a house built of stone, and 
belongs to the best class of ranchmen's homes. It contains two large 
rooms and a loft, accommodations that are found upon few ranches 
only. The cut on the following page represents a log house by no 
means of the best class, and yet about the average dwelling of ranch- 
cros, as herders are called in Mexico. Few women are found on 
ranches, the necessary isolation and hardships being too masculine 
for feminine tastes. Occasionally, however, the married ranchman 
shares the privations of ranch life with his wife. 



54^ 



M.lRn:/.S OJ' IHE XEW WEST. 



Cowboys sometimes occupy dug-outs. A ranchman describes his 
as follows : — 

" It was now necessary to build some kind of a house, as the shan- 
ties we had hitherto used would afford but poor protection against 
the keen blasts of winter. The choice lay between a log-house and 




jn a cattle ranch. 



a dug-out ; and as it would be difficult to get sti-aight logs enough 
for the former, and it would take longer to build, and the w^eather 
was already getting cold enough to make living out of doors not very 




A DUG-OUT. 



enjoyable, we decided to make a dug-out. A dug-out is constructed 
by digging into a hill, which forms the back and sides of the dwell- 
ing. The front is made of logs, and the roof of sticks, on which grass 



MARl'ELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 



543 



DIAGRAM I. 
Range 79 West. 



or hay is laid, covered by a thick layer oi earth. A fireplace and 
flue are dug out at one side, and a chimney is carried above the roof 
by means of some stones or sticks 
plastered with mud. It is a primi- 
tive kind of house. Ours was not 
at all uncomfortable, and with a blaz- 
ing log fire on the hearth, we knew 
little what the weather was like out- 
side." 

If he buys his land of the United 
States government, he finds an office 
near at hand, where maps and charts 
convince him that the method of com- 
ing into possession of what he wants 
is very plain and systematic. 

The United States government 
surveys the public lands into a suc- 
cession of lines of townships running 
north and south, parallel to each 
other, and each line of townships is 
numbered from the base line north- 
ward, the two in Diagram i being- 
numbered, for example, 138 and 139 
North, respectively. 

Each of these lines of townships is 
called a "range," which number from 
the meridian east or west. This 
range, for example, is called Range 
79 West. 

Diagram i shows two townships, numbered 

138 and 139 North, respectively, in Range No. 
79 West, The parallel line of townships west 
of Range 79 West would be numbered 138 and 

139 North, respectively, in Range 80 West, 
and so on. 

Each township contains 36 sections, num- 
bered as in Diagram i, or 23,040 acres. Each 
section as shown in Diagram 2 (divided into 
40-acre tracts), is one mile square, and contains soi™. 

640 acres. Each section is divided into cjuarters, containin 
acres each. Each quarter section contains 40 acres. 



6 


5 


4 


3 


2 


1 


7 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


18 


17 


16 


15 


14 


13 


19 


20 


21 


22 


23 


24 


30 


29 


28 


27 


26 


25 


31 


11 


ZZ 


34 


Z^ 


36 


6 


5 


4 


3 


2 


1 


7 
IS 


8 


9 


10 


11 


12 


17 


16 


15 


14 


13 


19 


20 


21 


22 


23 


24 


30 
31 


29 
32 


28 
Z2, 


27 


26 
35 


25 


34 


36 






SOI 


TH. 







Range 79 West. 

DIAGRAM 2. 

Section I, Township 139 N. 

Range 79 W. 



6o 



544 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



In dcscribini;- lands, for example, the northeast 40-acre traet in 
Diai^ram 2, in section No. 1, in township No. 139 N., in ran<;"e No. 
79 W., wonkl be described as follows : N.E. \ of the N.E. \ of Sec- 
tion I, T. 139 N., R. 79 W. 

The price of government land is $1.25 per acre, though millions 
of acres which lie in sections alternate with railroad lands are held 
at S2.50. The stockman usually buys the cheaper lands, unless he 
" pre-cmi:)ts " one hundred and sixty acres, or acquires a title tt) his 
claim under the Homestead Law by living on it five years. 

Cattle are not confined to the section or quarter-section, but roam 
at pleasure over the range from November to May, when the round- 
up begins. A Colorado stockman informed me a few years since, 





























K^^^^j^^^^^^^!^^^'^,Vf. S^ 




g^^^^ 


^S^S^S^ 


S^M 


W^.- ^'^?f*^*?P^ 1 


nlW^i^l^^ 


i 




fW 


m 




\* u-^<i ^.*p^t«i,((Jsi.)lL~. 


*.•< 







wm^mMM^:^^^^;;:^^:. \ lAtiiwi/A... 



HERD ON THE RANGE. 



that, at the jDrevious round-up, some of his cattle were found one 
hundred and fifty miles east of his ranch, one hundred miles west 
and south. Different herds mingle on the range, of course, making 
the annual round-up a necessitv, that each stockman may find and 
possess his own. The round-up will be described hereafter. 

Many stockmen do not live on their ranches. Cowboys take 
charge of the ranches, looking after the few horses, cows, and hens, 
which are kept thereon for immediate use. One cowboy can take 
care of a ranch ordinarily, from November to May, when the herd is 
wandering o\er the range foi- food. \ pretty loneh' time is his, too, 
spending six months in solitary house-keejiing, with no neighbor, per- 
haps, within ten (jr twenty miles, and no post-office within twenty- 



MAR I 'ELS OF STO CK-RAISING. 



545 



five' or fifty miles. An occasional visit from the proprietor, bringing 
supplies and such advice as the circumstances require, breaks the 
monotony of the lonely and somewhat singular life. 

This illustration is not a fancy sketch. It is the photograph of a 
stockman, taken when he was mounted and ready to start for his 
ranch a few score of miles away. Wearing "half an acre of hat " to 
protect his face from the hot sun, with a scarf about his neck for a 
like purpose, and 
his apparel well 
adapted to his bus- 
iness, his appear- 
ance is so changed 
that an introduc- 
tion to his own 
wife may be quite 
necessary. He may 
be a millionnaire, 
though he looks 
like a shack. He 
may be as proud as 
Lucifer, but neces- 
sity arrays him in 
a h omely dress ; 
and he appears 
humble. Seated 
upon a Mexican 
saddle, which cost 
a hundred dollars, 
if it is a good one, 
and drawing up the 
reins of a bridle 
that cost twenty-five or fifty more, if it is worthy of an aspiring stock- 
man, he puts spurs to his horse, and is off in a jiffy. Grass does not 
grow under his horse's feet. The animal is trained to the saddle, and 
the stockman is trained to him, and the two are so trained together, 
that they fly over the plain as if they were one thing, as much as the 
two parts of a whole. It is a lonely ride to his ranch, forty, fifty, 
sixty, perhaps a hundred miles away ; but his head is full of business 
and his heart of contentment — about the happiest looking man, 
though he may be the homeliest, to be found within cattledom. If he 
happens to pass a prairie post-office, the unique affair serves to remind 




»u,i'ia\i\\KiiK:!ii'^'.to,A'.i\'ai 



OFF FOR THE RANCH 



546 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




PRAIRIE POST-OFFICE. 



him that humans do live in the 
"silent and solemn country" 
throui^h which he is passing. 

When calling attention to 
the cowboy's home on the 
ranch, we should have said that 
many of these abodes are loca- 
ted where various poisonous 
creatures infest the country, as 
rattlesnakes, scorpions, tarantu- 
las, and centipedes. On the 
shelf before me is a bottle of 
alcohol containing a scorpion 
and centipede which a stockman 
captured in his cabin and pre- 
sented to me. He exhibited, 
also, the skin of an enormous 
rattlesnake, four and a half feet 
long ; and his snakeship was 
caught just outside of his adobe 
cabin. And yet it is seldom 
that serious results transpire from the intimacy which these denizens 
of the Rocky Mountain region try to cultivate with ranch-life fami- 
lies. We think, however, that even cowboys will agree with us, that 
their room is better than their company. 

A ranchman writes of rattlesnakes: "The rattlesnakes were 
mostly of a small species, and I used to kill one or two nearly every 
day during the summer. I once killed ten in three hours, not look- 
ing for them, but just getting off my horse when I heard one rattle, 
and destroying it. I generally killed them with my ' quist,' which is 
a kind of riding-whip, about eighteen inches long, made of raw hide 
and leather plaited together, with a piece of iron in the handle. 
A snake cannot strike unless it first coils itself up, so you can hit 
it when it is gliding off, with even a short weapon, without fear of 
the consequences. The dogs used occasionally to get bitten by rat- 
tlesnakes, but they always recovered in a day or two, witliout any treat- 
ment ; and one of my horses was once bitten right on the nose. His 
head swelled up tremendously, and he could not eat for two or three 
days, but he ultimately recovered. When a man gets bitten, the cure 
chiefly relied on in the States is copious doses of whiskey, on the 
principle, I suppose, of similia shuilibus cnrantiir. " 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAIS/NG. 



547 



Below is the castle of the tarantula — a remarkable little nest, 
with its bevel-edged and closely-fitting door. It is built by the 
female, her husband possessing no talent or inclination in that direc- 
tion. He is fierce and warlike, ever ready to kill his foe with his 
deadly poison. The female is shy, and stays at home to look after 
her family, with closed door 
when she is within her castle. 
On leaving her nest, the door 
is thrown wide open, and re- 
mains in that position until her 
return. At the approach of 
danger, she springs into her 
castle at a bound and closes the 
door behind her. The taran- 
tula is venomous, and there are 
many of them in California, 
Colorado, Arizona, and New 
Mexico. 

Cattle are obliged to seek 
water for themselves as well as 
food. Hence the stockman 
looks for a well-watered ranch. 
It is not always possible to 
have all the water facilities de- 
sired, so that cattle must travel 

quite a distance, sometimes, to quench their thirst. If they have to 
travel two or three miles for water, they will drink only once in two 
or three days. They excel men and women in adapting themselves 
to circumstances. They understand the laws of storms full as well 
as scientists, and govern themselves accordingly. They surpass 
" Probabilities " in forecasting the weather, and know when a storm 
is actually approaching, as well as we who take and read the papers. 
For this reason they thrive and grow when we think they would 
starve, and live when we wt)nder they do not perish. 

The profits of stock-raising are marvellous. For this reason, men 
endure hardships and brave dangers, dwelling apart from friends and 
civilized society. The prospect of speedy fortunes reconciles them 
to privations for the time being. 

We shall furnish the estimates of several reliable authorities, 
showing amount of capital invested, and the actual profits in a series 
of years. 




TARANTULA NEST. 



548 



MARl'EL^ OF THE A'Ell' WEST. 



A Dakota editor says that men unacquainted with the cattle busi- 
ness do not realize how rapidly cattle multiply when all the female 
progeny are allowed to breed. And he goes on to say : — 

" If one hundred cows and their female progeny be kept at breed- 
ing for ten years, the result would be as follows, estimating that forty 
per cent of the cows would have heifers which would, beginning when 
two years old, in their turn have 

40 402 cows in seventh year drop . . 161 

40 525 cows in eighth year drop .... 210 

56 686 cows in ninth year drop . . . .274 

72 896 cows in tenth year drop .... 358 

94 ' 

123 I Total, ten years 1,428 



100 cows in first year drop . 
100 cows in second year drop 
140 cows in third year drop 
180 cows in fourth year drop 
236 cows in fifth year drop . 
308 cows in sixth year drop 




CATTLE SEEKING WATER. 



" The number of bulls would be the same as that of heifers. F"rom 
the above an idea can be got of the rate at which capital increases in 
the live-stock business on the plains, where the cost of keeping a beef 
from birth to maturity is less than si.x dollars." 

In Harper s Monthly of November. 1879, A. A. Hayes, Jr., who 
wrote after careful personal observation, follows some valuable sug- 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RA/SINC. 549 

gestions with an estimate of his own, whieh cannot be said to be 
rose-colored : — 

" I. What amount of capital is needed ? 

" It would hardly be advisable to begin an independent business 
with less than five thousand dollars, of which three thousand Vv'ould 
be invested in stock. It is common for men employed by owners to 
have a few cattle of their own, which range with their em})loyers', and 
in this way they sometimes get quite a little property together, and 
are enabled to start on their own account. On the other hand, the 
profits on a large herd increase in a greater ratio than the exi^enses, 
and the figures to be given herein will be based on an investment 
large enough to secure this benefit. 

" 2. What profits may be expected in the stock business } 

"The following may be pronounced a fair and reasonable com- 
mercial estimate, and it is put forward with only the remark that 
while the figures apply to circumstances as they are now, and there 
are chances and contingencies and possible disasters attending 
money-making adventures of all kinds, the margin here is so large 
that after making all allowances which caution may suggest, one has 
still the promise of great results. 

We will suppose an individual or a tirm to have found a ranch 
to suit him or them in Southern Colorado, and to have bought 
it. The cost is hard to tix; but one of 10,000 acres, in com- 
plete order, could not stand in at more than $50,000 

A herd of 4,000 good cows could be bought at $\Z each, or . 72,000 

And 80 good short-horn and Hereford bulls at an average of 

$50 each, or 4,000 

Making a total investment of #126,000 

By careful buying in the spring one should get 70 per cent of 

calves with the cows, or say 2,800 calves. Of these, on the 

average, one-half, or 1,400, will be heifer calves. At the end 

of the first year affairs should stand as follows: — 
The 1,400 heifer calves will be yearlings, and \\orth .... #14,000 
There will be also 1,400 yearling steers, \\urth $10 each, or . . 14,000 $28,000 

With a herd of this size expenses may be put at not more than #5,000 

And for contingencies, sundries, and ordinary losses it is safe 
to take 4 per cent on capital invested in stock, say on 
#76,000 3,040 8,040 

Profit at end of first year . #19,960 

At the end of the second year the 1,400 heifers are two years 

old, and worth #5 more apiece, or say #7,000 

And of the 2,800 (70 per cent of 4,000) new yearling calves, 
an average of one-half, or 1,400, will be heifers, and worth 
#10 each, or 14,000 



550 MARl'ELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

1,400 two-year-old steers art worth an additional S6 each, or . $8,400 

And the 1,400 new yeaniiigs are worth Sio each, or ... . 14,000 $43,400 

Deduct expenses $5,000 

And 4 per cent on $76,000 + $19,960 =$95,960 3.838 8,838 $34,562 

At the end of the third year the original 1,400 heifers are three 

years old, and worth an additional $3 per head, or ... . $4,200 

The yearling heifers of last year are two years old, and worth 

an additional $5 each, or 7,000 

There are 1,400 yearlings from the original stock, worth . . 14,000 

And of the offspring of the three-year-olds (70 per cent of 1,400 

= 980) one-half, or 490, are heifers, and worth 4,900 

The original 1,400 steers are three years old, and worth an ad- 
ditional $10 each, or 14,000 

The 1,400 steer calves of last year are two years old, and worth 

an additional $6 each, or 8,400 

And there are 1,400 yearlings, oflspring of original stock, and 
490, offspring of new three-year-olds — in all, 1,890 — at $10 
each 18,900 $71,400 

Deduct expenses on 5,400 cows, say $6,050 

And 4 per cent on ($95,960+ $34,562) $130,522 5,221 11,271 

Profits at end of third year 60,129 

Total net profits for three years $114,651 

" I. No allowance need be made for depreciation of stock, as the 
cattle can with proper care always be sold for beef. 

" 2. If the profits be invested in cattle, they will be largely in- 
creased. 

" 3. No account is taken of interest on profits. 

"4. No account is taken of the gradual im]:)rovement in the qual- 
ity of the stock. 

" 5. Profit can often be made by buying cattle and keeping them 
for a year. 

"6. During the latter jxirt of the winter and the spring the food 
is of course poorer than before, and as the cattle are not then in the 
best condition, there is much demand for good beef for local con- 
sumption. By feeding cattle during those months for .sale in Colo- 
rado, excellent gains should be realized. Good beef o)i the //oof was 
worth four and a quarter cents per pound in Pueblo in the spring of 

" 7. A ranch purchased in Southern Colorado at present prices is 
almost sure, in view of the great increase in the business and the 
decrease of suitable land, to appreciate considerably in value — say, 
at least ten per cent per annum. 

" It will be plain to any one who will examine carefully into the 



MAR I 'ELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 5 5 I 

matter that under ordinary and favorable circumstances protits will 
mount up each year in an increasing ratio, and he can readily make 
figures for himself. In the mean time we have a balance-sheet at the 
end of the third year as follows : — 

Assets. 

Ranch, with three years' appreciation, at lo per cent ^65,000 

5,400 cows, at ;? 1 8 97'-oo 

80 bulls, at ^50 4-000 

1,400 two-year-old heifers, at ;^ 1 5 21,000 

1,890 yearling heifers, at $10 18,900 

1,400 three-year-old steers, $26 36,400 

1,400 two-year-old steers, $16 22,400 

1,890 yearling steers, at ^10 18,900 

Total $283,800 

Liabilities. 

Capital put in ranch $50,000 

Capital put in stock 76,000 

Capital used in expenses 28,149 

Profits on stock, three years $114,651 

Profits on ranch 15,000 $129,651 

Total $283,800 



" A risk to be taken into account would be a possible outbreak of 
disease at some time, but out of profits as shown an insurance fund 
could readily be created. That so many cattle will be raised that 
prices will greatly fall need not be a matter of present fear ; for, 
leaving out two most important factors, — the great and increasing 
demand for our beef in I^urope, and the new uses to which it is put 
in this country, — our population has hitherto increased faster than 
the supply of good meat." 

The last paragraph may require some modification, since there has 
been quite a depression in the cattle business of late. However, the 
following table will furnish a reliable basis for present estimates ; for 
it is still true, that England's demand for American beef is constantly 
increasing, while the home demand is necessarily greater from year 
to year in consequence of the rapid growth of population. Stock- 
raising has its booms as other kinds of business have, and doubtless 
it will continue to have them in the future from various causes, some 
of which may not be well understood. 

Frank Fossett, in his " History of Colorado," has the following 
estimate : — 



55: 



M.lRl'ELS OF THE JVEW IVEST. 



O Q O O O 

O O M ^ 'I- 

00 OC ro 30 O 

00* 00 o~ — ^'" c^ oo" pT 



^^ 8 =§ 

MO O , '■1 



> ?. 



8 8 8^ 

00 00 t-- VC 
tF rf vo" Oc' 



-2" ■ 

> £^ 

-a S ^ 






5-5 



00 r^ O ^ 



M r'^ •* vC 






:g5 :^?n 

■+ t-- u-l OC 



I '-3 



8 ^8|^ 






= s 






8 8 ^ eg ^ 5 "S ! i: ! 

»Ov£) MOO 'l-MvO^O 



r'l t^ M 



^ « « M M 






CN "^ t^ M 



\0 O M 00 t^ CN 



I? 



g £i 3 ?^ ; > 

,> ^ .3 .i .ii C 



i:-o 

3 -fi. 



M J± 

5 !> 



_i > — 



il X w J. 

^ ^ § 2 



5 -^ a. « ' 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 553 

His estimate is for seven years, because a herd is supposed to 
double in that period. Cattlemen say a herd will double in seven 
years by natural increase, and during that time enough beef will be 
sold out of it to pay the expense of running it, and nearly enough 
more in addition, to cover the original investment. One-twelfth })art 
of a herd is sold for beef annually ; and the annual yield of calves 
will amount to about one-fourth the number of animals in the whole 
herd. That is, a herd of one thousand animals will amount to two 
thousand in about seven years. The calves would number about two 
hundred and fifty the first year, increasing from year to year as the 
herd grows. The number of cattle sold for beef the first year would 
be one-twelfth of one thousand, or eighty-three ; and this number 
will increase from year to year. In this way stockmen estimate 
their material prosperity on paper ; but sometimes the paper loses its 
value by the severity of an unusual winter, the prevalence of cattle 
disease, or the ravages of grasshoppers. Four-fifths of a herd of 
cows will bring the owner a calf annually until the cows are twelve 
years old, if kept so long. A single cow is the mother of one calf at 
three years of age. At four, she has two, the first a yearling. At 
five, she is the mother of three calves, the oldest two years. When 
the mother is six, she has four children and one granxlchild, her 
oldest calf becoming a mother herself. At seven, she has five chil- 
dren, and three grandchildren ; for the oldest daughter has her 
second calf, and the next daughter in age has her first calf. At 
eight, the grandmother has six children, six grandchildren, and one 
great-grandchild — the whole family numbering fourteen; for her 
oldest calf has her third calf, the next in age her second, and the 
third in age her first, and the first grandcalf has a calf also. At nine, 
the original cow has se\en childr»'n, ten grandchildren, and three 
great-grandchildren ; for her oldest calf has her fourth, the second 
in age her third, the third in age her second, and the fourth in age 
her first ; and the first grandcalf has her second offspring, and the 
second grandcalf her first. There are twenty in the family nt)w. 
At ten, the original cow has eight children, fifteen grandchildren, 
and six great-grandchildren ; for her oldest calf has her fifth, the 
second in age her fourth, the third in age her third, the fourth in age 
her second, and the fifth in age her first ; and the first grandcalf has 
her third offspring, the second her second, and the third her first — 
twenty-nine in all. At eleven, the cow has nine children, twenty- 
one grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and one great-great- 
grandcalf ; for her oldest calf has her sixth calf, the next her fifths 



554 MARVELS OF THE NEW II EST. 

the next; her fourth, the next her third, the next her second, and the 
next her first ; and the first grandcalf has her fourth, the next her 
third, the next her second, and the next her first ; and, also, the first 
great-grandcalf has her first, the fifth generation. Now the family 
numbers forty-one. At twelve, the maternal ancestor has ten chil- 
dren, twenty-eight grandchildren, fifteen great-grandchildren, and 
three great-great-grandchildren ; for her first calf has her seventh, 
the next her sixth, the next her fifth, the next her fourth, the next 
her third, the next her second, and the next her first ; and the first 
grandcalf has her fifth, the next her fourth, the next her third, the 
next her second, and the next her first ; also, the first great-grand- 
calf has her second, and the next her first — a family of fifty-six. 
Five generations, — ten of the second, twenty-eight of the third, 
fifteen of the fourth, and three of the fifth. By this time the mission 
of the original cow ought to be considered accomplished, and she be 
allowed to die a natural death, if she will, although it is more proba- 
ble that, after making herself the source of such a marvellous income 
to her owner, she will close her earthly career in some busy mining 
camp where canned corned beef is reckoned as the staff of life. 

There is one serious trouble, however, with the foregoing figures. 
The estimate is based upon the supposition that the cow's progeny 
are all females. To this date, however, by no artifice or persuasion, 
have stockmen been able to make their cows bring them all heifers. 
We have no doubt that they would if they could. This is one of the 
few things in which cattlemen have been baflfled ; their cows will 
bring forth about one-half males, in spite of any coaxing, fixing, or 
blaspheming. Nevertheless, the foregoing estimate will serve a good 
purpose, without reflecting at all upon the cow ; for, after making 
due allowance for her male progeny, her family will number about 
thirty when she is twelve years old ; and this ought to satisfy reason- 
able stockmen, since five thousand cows could show, even at this rate, 
one hundred and twenty thousand animals in twelve years, though 
but four-fifths of their number become mothers, provided none die, 
or are killed. At twenty-five dollars per head, this number would 
bring three million dollars. The original investment for five thou- 
sand cows would not vary much either way from one hundred and 
fifty thousand dollars. 

The Commissioner of Immigration, Whigham, of Colfax Ccuuity, 
New Mexico, published the following statement in 1883 : — 

"The principal industry of the county at jM-esent is raising cattle 
and sheep. The grazing lands of Colfax County are justly cele- 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 555 

brated, and are unrivalled in any section of the Rocky Mountains. 
No business has proved a more lucrative one here than stock-raising". 
There are in Colfax at present, it is estimated, seventy-five thousand 
head of cattle, two hundred thousand head of sheep, and seven thou- 
sand head of horses and brood mares. The following table will not 
be out of place, as not only giving an estimate of the profits in the 
cattle business here, — and it is indorsed by cattlemen hereabouts as 
a fair exhibit, — but will also give current prices of common stock, 
with which it starts, and the price of the improved also. 

" Let us say the stock-raiser makes a purchase in September of 
a herd composed of the following grade and class : — 

Capital Invcitcd in Stock. 

150 young cows and calves, at $25 ^2,250 

100 two-year-old heifers, at $12 1,200 

100 two-year-old steers, at $12 1,200 

75 yearling heifers, at ^7 525 

75 yearling steers, at $7 525 

ID high grade bulls, at I75 750 

.56,450 

Capital Im-ested in Ranch, etc. 

Ranch, corrals, etc $250 

Horses and equipments 250 

5500 
Sninniary Account for Five Years. 



END OF YEAR. 


NO. OF STOCK. 


VALUE. 


SALES THREE-VEAK-OLD STEERS. 


EXPENSES. 


BANK .A.CCT. 


1-irst 


530 


$7,140.00 


100 at $iS.oo= 31,800.00 


$680 


$1,120 


Second . . . 


655 


8,465.00 


75 at iS.oo= 1,350.00 


750 


600 


•I'hird .... 


855 


11,200.00 


60 at iS.oo= 1,080.00 


850 


230 


Fourth .... 


1,063 


14,620.00 


100 at 22.50= 2,250.00 


1,100 


1,150 


Fifth 


1,321 


18,477.50 


130 at 22.50= 2,925.00 


1,500 


1,425 


Total .... 










$4-5 -5 



Value of stock 518,477.50 

Value of ranches, horses, etc 1,000.00 

Bank account 4,525.00 

$24,002.50 
Capital invested 6,950.00 

Profit in five years $17,052.50 



556 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

" In the above table we have added five hundred dollars to the 
value of the ranch, horses, etc., at the end of the five years, which is 
a low estimate of the money charged to 'expenses' which went for 
the purchase of additional horses. The increase of cattle has been 
reckoned at eighty-five per cent, allowing five per cent of loss from 
natural causes in young stock. The improvement in stock bred from 
fine bulls has been reckoned at twenty-five per cent." 

We met a merchant from Illinois in Southern Colorado who had 
made an annual visit there for eight successive years. He told me 
that he saw such a margin for profits in the cattle business on his 
first visit that he invested all the money he had laid by, though 
it was but eight hundred dollars. He found a reliable man, engaged 
in the business in a small way, and entered into partnership with 
him, with the understanding that he should continue his business in 
Illinois, making a visit annually to Colorado. "I have just sold out 
my interest in the herd to my partner for ten thousand dollars," 
said he, perfectly satisfied with his venture, as he ought to have 
been. His partner had run the herd, performed all the work ; and 
his investment of eight hundred dollars had grown to ten thousand, 
while he was trading, eating, and sleeping in Illinois. 

On my way home I made the acquaintance of a Massachusetts 
man, who had become a stock-grower in Nebraska. His story was 
substantially as follows : " I was a manufacturer in Massachusetts, 
and four years ago broke down by overwork. My physician gave 
me no hope of recovery, unless I would give up business, and go 
West. I sold out everything, and removed to Nebraska, with no 
intention of doing any business. I had plenty of money, so that I 
was under no necessity to accumulate more. But I saw at once the 
profits of cattle-raising, and that the business would oblige me to be 
in the open air — the best thing for my health. Also I had a rare 
opportunity to buy out a stockman at low figures, and I embraced 
it, starting out with a herd of about four thousand. The next season 
I went to Oregon and purchased five thousand herd, and drove them 
over the country to my ranch. When they joined my herd at home 
they were worth double what I paid for them in Oregon. At that 
time I had invested about one hundred and ten thousand dollars. 
One month ago," he continued (which was October, 1883), "I was 
offered three hundred thousand dollars for my herd in cash, and I 
refused it. I would not sell the herd for five hundred thousand dol- 
lars, because in ten years, and in less time than that, it will be worth 
a million." 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 557' 

A Massachusetts man, whom the writer knows well, bought a 
ranch four years ago in Wyoming for which he paid two hunched and 
thirty thousand dollars, — a very low figure for the size of the herd, — 
but peculiar circumstances forced the sale. There were twelve thou- 
sand cattle and seven hundred horses, with etceteras, on the ranch. 
The purchase was made in early summer, and in December follow- 
ing we met the owner in Boston, and inquired after his ranch busi- 
ness. He replied : " In October I sold my beef, and since that six- 
thousand head of cattle, the whole amounting to one hundred and 
eighty thousand dollars. I have six thousand head of cattle and 
seven hundred horses left, which are worth at least what I paid for 
the ranch in the lirst place." 

Capitalists of England and Scotland are largely interested in 
American stock-raising, especially in the New West. It is claimed 
that in 1882 they invested thirty million dollars in this industry in 
our country. Taking advantage of 'our liberal legislation, they have 
come into possession of immense tracts of land, so that it became 
necessary to impose barriers to this method of gobbling up our coun- 
try ; and recent legislation has put a stop to this wholesale posses- 
sion by aliens. 

A Scotchman, J. S. Tait, has recently issued a small volume, 
"The Cattle-Fields of the Far W^est " ; and it may be profitable to 
learn his estimate of the cattle business. The reader will easily 
understand his figures by remembering that a pound of English 
money is equal to five dollars, and a shilling to twenty-five cents in 
American currency. Mr. Tait says : — 

" Under the most onerous of the conditions named, and where the 
entire pasture has to be purchased at ten shillings per acre, the 
profits of the cattle trade are quite beyond parallel. In the case 
of a good-sized herd they may be briefly indicated thus : — 

A yearling high grade steer or l)ullock, costing £2,, would realize 

at the end of the fourth year, that is, within three years of its 

purchase ^8 o o 

Less prime cost £t, o o 

Less co?,\. of maintenance for three years (expenses all told), at 

55 per annum 0150 

Less three years' interest on cost of five acres of good land ... 076 
Less percentage of loss for three years at five per cent per annum 

(a high estimate) 0176 

500 

Leaving a net gain for the three years of £2, O O 

Equivalent to "^i^i V^"^ cent per annum on the original outlay. 
To this must be added the growth in the value of the land 



558 MARVELS OF THE XEW J TEST. 

(which it might certainly be expected would double in value in 
the same period), eiual to a further ;i^' ^^ per cent per annum, 
or 66}4 in all on th; average of years. 

" Turning to the female cattle : — 

A yearling high grade heifer costing ^^3, would, at the end of its 

seventh year, realize as a fattened cow ^£6 o o 

And would have saved four calves, valued at /^2 each 800 



^14 



Less prime cost /^ o 

Less cost of maintenance as above for six years at 55 per annum . i 10 

Less interest on land, six years o ' 5 

Lsss percentage of loss for six years at 7^ per cent per annum 
(a very high estimate), but the loss is somewhat greater in fe- 
male cattle 29 



7 14 6 

Net gain for six years j^6 5 6 

Equivalent to an annual dividend of ;i;^y^ per cent on original 
outlay, or, including growth in value of land as computed 
above, 66^ per cent for the year. 

He adds : " This is not the most lucrative aspect of the cattle 
question, but it is the simplest way of ascertaining the minimum of 
what a cattle investment will achieve where the herd is of sufficient 
size and the land owned. 

" When the cattle are steadily graded up, still greater results will 
be attained ; and where, in addition, the agricultural capabilities of 
the soil are utilized to winter-feed the fat steers intended for the 
early market, this business will readily pay from fifty to sixty per 
cent per annum, from the cattle alone, in addition to the accumu- 
lating value in its land. 

" And these immense returns, it will be borne in mind, are 
reckoned on the entire capital, unrelieved by debentures, the issue 
of which would, of course, increase the dividend very materially." 
Mr. P. continues : — 

" The Hon. Moreton E. Post, member of Congress, and banker, 
Cheyenne, informed the writer that Mr. Searight of Wyoming had 
invested ;i<^30,ooo in the cattle business of that Territory in 1879, ^^^ 
having taken no money out of the business, nor, on the other hand, 
put any in since, the property in the fall of 1882 was worth ;^300,ooo. 
The latter valuation the writer knows to be correct, from having 
handled the property ; and as Mr. Post was Searight's banker, he 
may be relied upon as being correct with regard to the amount 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 559 

originally put in. The owner confirmed the statement. Colonel 
Slaughter, President of the First National Bank of Dallas, Texas, 
considered one of the hest authorities on the cattle trade in that 
State, has made a similar sum (^300,000) in the business, and he 
has not yet reached middle life. 

" Mr. Charles Goodnight (Goodnight & Adaii-) the Pioneer of 
the Panhandle, has made (without any original capital of his own) 
^120,000 in ten years. His partner, Mr. Adair of Rathdairs, 
Ireland, a gentleman well known in this country, has put from 
^72,000 to ^74,000 into the cattle business in Texas during the last 
six or seven years, and has taken out from ^^12,000 to ;^i4,ooo. 
The /^6o,ooo representing the balance of his money left in, is now 
worth ^600,000. 

" Many more striking instances of great wealth rajjidly achieved 
in the stock-raising industry could be adduced ; but, as already 
explained, the writer is careful to restrict himself to statements 
which can be readily investigated and confirmed. Messrs. Post, 
Searight, Slaughter, (joodnight, and Adair may be surpassed in 
wealth by many of the cattle kings, but they have no superiors 
in standing and probity ; and the facts quoted can quickly be tested 
by inquiry of any of the cattle salesmen of Chicago, St. Louis, or 
Kansas City. 

" Nor is such prosperity at all abnormal in the cattle trade. 
Without a moment's hesitation, the writer could name at least two 
hundred men, with whom he is personally acquainted, who have 
achieved their twenty, fifty, one hundred, two hundred thousand 
pounds, and upwards, in this business — starting with nothing what- 
ever of their own, and founding their fortunes originally on the 
permission granted by their em])loyer to run a few cattle with the 
herd they managed for him. The cattle towns of America — or 
towns practically sustained by that industry — are, per head of 
population, the wealthiest in the world." 

Some of the cattle companies operate on a grand scale. A short 
review of the property of the Prairie Cattle Company, organized with 
Scotch capital, will give an idea of this. The company's territory 
lies in three divisions. The first, called the Arkansas, or northern, 
di\ision, extends from the Arkansas River in Colorado on the north, 
to the line of Colorado and New Mexico on the south, — 70 miles, — 
and 60 miles east and west, making a territory of 3,500 square miles, 
or 2,240,000 acres. There are 53,982 cattle on this range, and 300 



560 MARl'ELS OF THE AFW WEST. 

horses are used by the cowboys who manage the herd. The value 
of the land, $163,992 ; of cattle, $1,705,000; total, $1,791,492. 

The second, called the Cimmarron, or Central division, lies in the 
northern part of New Mexico, extending 84 miles from the Colorado 
line to the southern line of Mora County, and 48 miles from Sierra 
Grand on the west to the Texas line on the east, an area of 4,032 
square miles, or 2,580,480 acres. The worth of the land is estimated 
at $235,545 ; the number of cattle is 57,799, and their worth $1,444,- 
975. The whole value is put at $1,753,920. The management requires 
500 horses. This division is the seat of the company's general head- 
quarters, and the greater part cf the southern rounding-up is man- 
aged from here. A telephone line 150 miles long connects the gen- 
eral headquarters with those of the Northern division. 

The Canadian or Southern division is on the Canadian River, in 
the Panhandle of Texas, in Potter and Oldham counties, the greatest 
length and breadth being 25 and 16 miles respectively, and the area 
is 400 square miles, or 256,000 acres. The land is not so good as 
that of the other divisions, and its cost was 60 cents an acre. The 
value of the 29,803 cattle is $715,272, and of the 200 horses $8,000, 
making the entire property worth $771,072. The total value of the 
three properties, whose joint area is larger than that of Massachusetts, 
is set at $4,416,484. The company began business with 104.00c 
cattle, and in two years the number had increased to 139,000, the 
profits in the meantime making a dividend of $50,000 in 1881, and 
$250,000 in 1882, in which year about 26,000 calves were branded. 

In the Northwest, one of the largest companies is the Powder 
River of Wyoming, with a capital stock of $1,500,000. It includes 
among its directors the Duke of Manchester and Lord Henry Neville. 
The Marquis de Mores, a French nobleman, has a large ranch on the 
Little Missouri River in Montana, and there he is instituting a new 
departure in the shape of a slaughtering establishment, killing 80 
beeves, or two carloads of dressed meat, a day. The Northern Pacific 
Refrigerator Car Company, organized in St. Paul with a capital of 
$200,000, has a ten years' contract with the Northern Pacific Railway, 
and transports the meat from this place. It is believed that eventually 
all cattle ready to kill will be slaughtered at the nearest point to the 
ranches on the railway lines, and the meat shipped East by refrigerator 
cars, thus saving the greater expense of transporting liv^e stock and 
the loss on shrinkage, as has already become general with the beef 
supply from Chicago eastward. 

There are larger ranches than the above, it is true. The lars^est 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAlShYG. 



561 



ranch in the world is near San Antonio, Texas, and was sold by 
Colonel King, of that state, to a London syndicate, for ^4,000,000. 
A Chicago syndicate, of which C. B. Farwell is a member, own a 
ranch of 300,000 acres in Texas. The famous Maxwell grant in 
New Mexico is leased for 38 years by the Maxwell Cattle Company, 
with a capital of $1,000,000. The ranch contains 1,400,000 acres, 
and has a capacity of sustaining 80,000 cattle. 



THE COWBOY. 

The cowboy plays such an important part in the cattle business 
that w^e stop here to tell the reader about him. You have heard 
much about him, but little that is true. So incorrect are the repre- 
sentations of him in the 
Eastern States that the 
reader will be sur})rised 
to learn from the photo- 
graph that the cowboy is 
a member of the human 
family. 

We assure the readei 
that this is a photograph 
of a real cowboy, whom we 
have seen and conversed 
with, and from whom \\i 
begged the photo. He 
has been in the business 
since he was twelve 3'eais 
of age, and, of course, is c"- 
veteran cowboy althi:)ui;h 
he is not over thirty yeai s 
old. He has lived most 
of his life just outside ot 
civilization, and scouied 
the " Great Plains," and 
penetrated the Rockies, 
so thoroughly, that he is 
more at home there than -^ cowboy. 

he is in Denver or Greeley. He is a real dare-devil on the round- 
up, and the wildest broncho cannot run faster than he can ride. He 
sticks to his back, too, except when the flying brute stumbles when on 




562 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



the dead run ; and then, of course, he falls with him. In this way he 
has learned what it is to have a broken arm, a dislocated shoulder, 
fractured ribs, sprained ankles, and bruises without number ; but he 
was easily mended, and is now as good as new. He has been picked 
up for dead several times, when horse and rider went down together 
in their chase after a wild steer ; and no one could tell why he was 
not killed, except that his time had not come. And yet this daring 
cowboy, so familiar with "life on the plains," his life as wild as the 
cattle which he herded, actually went into a civilized community, 
courted and married a modest, good girl, and established a home. 

If her ideas of a 
cowboy, and those 
of her neighbors, 
had been like those 
of many Eastern 
people, she would 
have run away 
from him when he 
went to make love, 
expecting a bullet 
from a revolver, 
instead of an arrow 
from Cupid. The 
photograph shows 
him, of course, as 
he appears at home 
in citizen's dress. 

This cut repre- 
sents a cowboy 
starting for the 
range, equipped for the service, his lariat hanging upon the horn of 
his saddle. 

People in the New W'est laugh at the prevalent ideas of the cow- 
boy in the East. When a town is sacked, or a railroad train robbed 
by masked men, it is heralded throughout the Eastern States as the 
crime of cowboys, when more likely a gang of professionals from 
New York or Chicago perpetrated the deed. That there are bad 
cowboys must be admitted ; but, as a class, they are not the desper- 
adoes and cut-throats which many Eastern papers represent them to 
be. We have seen cowboys who were educated in the best ware- 
houses of Boston, and were told of others who were graduated at 




COWBOY OFF FOR THE RANGE. 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 563 

Harvard and Yale. They were in search of health, and engaged 
in this business, first, for health, and, second, for a fortune. That 
we may not be charged with giving a rose-colored view of this class, 
we call attention to the sentiments of others, whose opportunities of 
personal observation have been far better than ours. 

The editor of the West SJiorc, published at Portland, Ore., has 
the following : — 

"The idea entertained of the cowboy by the Eastern public is as 
erroneous as it is possible to be. The cowboys, as a class, are a 
brave, intelligent, honorable, kind-hearted, and cool-headed class of 
men. In their ranks will be found college graduates, sons of many 
of the first families of the East, men worth their thousands in their 
own right, scions of nobility from Europe, and natives of the plains 
and mountains, the last, of course, by far the most numerous. That 
their life of freedom from restraint should develop certain wild traits 
of character, or that among them should drift an occasional refugee 
from justice, is not surprising ; but such a recruit must behave him- 
self like a man, and should he commit any outrage or crime, his com- 
panions would be the first to see that he was properly punished. 
They have no great love for Indians, nor, for that matter, has any 
man who has been brought into contact with that lazy, pilfering, 
ignoble race ; and if they occasionally have trouble with Mr. Lo, the 
blame is by no means entirely their own. No better descri})tion of 
them and their characteristics can be given than the following by a 
cattleman, who has lived and worked with them for years : — 

" ' The cowboy is the most thoroughly misunderstood man, outside 
of the localities where he is known, on the face of the earth. I know 
him in all his alleged terrors, and as a class there are no nobler- 
hearted or honorable men in the world. Brave to rashness and gen- 
erous to a fault, if you should be thrown among them you would find 
them ever ready to share their last crust with you, or lie down at 
night with you on the same blanket. Say that I have ten thousand 
cattle which I am about to send overland from Texas into Montana 
to fatten for the market. Those cattle will be on the drive from the 
first of April until the middle of September. They are di\ided into 
three herds, with a dozen or sixteen men with each herd. 1 intrust 
those cattle in the hands of a gang of cowboys. For six months I 
know absolutely nothing of my stock. I trust their honesty to the 
extent of many thousands of dollars, without a contract, without a 
bond, with no earthly hold upon them, legally or morally, beyond 
the fact that I am paying them thirty-five or forty dollars a month 



564 MAR I -ELS OF THE AEll' If EST. 

to protect my interests. And these are the men pictured in the 
East as outcasts of civilization ! I trust absolutely to their judgment 
in getting those cattle through a wild and unbroken country without 
loss or iniur\-. I trust as absolutely to their bravery and endurance 
in the face of danger, for a man to be a cowboy must be a brave 
man. For instance, we are on a drive. The cattle are as wild as 
deers naturally, and being in an unknown country are as nervous 
and timid as sheep. The slightest noise may startle them into a 
stampede. We have been on the drive all day, and night is coming 
on. It is cold and raining. We have reached the point where we 
intend to round up for the night. The men commence to ride around 
the drove, singing, shouting, and whistling to encourage the animals 
by the sounds they are familiar with and to drown any noise of an 
unusual character which might provoke a stampede. Round and 
round the cattle they ride, until the whole drove is travelling in a 
circle. Slowly the cowboys close in on them, still shouting and 
singing, until finally the cattle become quiet, and after a time lie 
down and commence chewing their cuds with apparent contentment. 
Still the vigilance of the men cannot be relaxed. At least half of 
them must continue riding about the resting herd all night. A stam- 
pede of cattle is a terrible thing to the cowboys, and may be brought 
on by the most trivial cause. These wild cattle away from homes 
are as variable as the wind, and when frightened are as irresistible 
as an avalanche. The slightest noise of an unusual nature, the bark- 
ing of a coyote, the snap of a pistol, the crackling of a twig, will 
bring some wild-eyed steer to his feet in terror. Another instant 
and the whole drove are panting and bellowing in the wildest fear. 
They are ready to follow the lead of any animal that makes a break. 
Then the coolness and self-possession of the cowboy are called into 
play. They still continue their wild gallop around the frightened 
drove, endeavoring to reassure them and get them quiet once more. 
Maybe they will succeed after an hour or two, and the animals will 
again be at rest. But the chances are that they cannot be quieted 
so easily. A break is made in some direction. Here comes the 
heroism of the cowboy. Those cattle are as blind and unreasoning 
in their flight as a pair of runaway horses. They know no danger 
but from behind, and if they did, could not stop for the surging sea 
of maddened animals in the rear. A rocky gorge or deep-cut canon 
may cause the loss of half their number. Those in the rear cannot 
see the danger, and the leaders cannot stop for those behind and are 
pushed on to their death. A precipice may lie in their way, over 



MAR I 'ELS OF SI V CK~ R.US/XG . 



565 



which they plunge to destruction. It matters not to the cowboy. 
If the stampede is made, the captain of the drove and his men ride 
until they head it, and then endeavor to turn the animals in a circle 
once more. A hole in the ground, which catches a horse's foot, a 
stumble, and the hoofs of three thousand cattle have trampled the 
semblance of humanity from him. He knows this. A gulch or gorge 
lies in their path. There is no escaping it. Tliere is no turning to 




DEATH OF A HERO. 



the right or the left, and in an instant horse and rider are at the 
bottom, buried under a thousand cattle. History records no instance 
of more unquestioning performance of duty in the ]:)rescnce of dan- 
ger than is done by these men on every drive. Should the stampede 
be stopped, there is no rest for the drivers that night, but the utmost 
vigilance is required to ])revent a recurrence of the break from the 
frightened cattle. This may happen hundreds of times on a single 
drive. 

" ' I remember one instance which, from the friendship in which 



566 MARVELS OF THE AEIV WEST. 

I held the victim, has made a lasting impression on me. Two 
brothers were together on the drive. Both men had Ix'cn educated 
in an Eastern college, but for some reason had drifted to the cattle 
plains of Texas and had become cowboys. The elder was the cap- 
tain of the dri\e. Sitting about the camp-fire one night the younger 
was verv down-hearted about something, and finally said : " Charlie, 
let's throw up this drive. I don't want to go ; I feel that one or the 
other of us will never go back. I am ashamed of this, but I cannot 
shake it off." His brother v/as impressed by his seriousness, but 
could only say : " George, here are three thousand cattle in my charge. 
I could not leave them if I knew that I would be killed to-morrow." 
"A stampede!" cried one of the men. In an instcmt they were all 
at their animals, saddles were adjusted, and away the}' went. The 
captain gained the head of the drive, and had succeedetl in turning 
them a little when his horse stumbled. In another instant horse and 
rider could hardly have been distinguished from one another. This 
is the class of men cowboys are made of, and I never knew of many 
instances where they failed to do their duty. 

" 'There is another interesting period in the life of the cowboy, 
and that is the spring round-ujx In the fall the cattle stray away, 
and in working away from the storms thev sometimes get away 
a hundred miles or so. Each cattle-owner has his own particular 
brand on his cattle. The ranchmen in some natural division of the 
country will organize a grand round-ui^ in the spring. The cowboys 
will drive the cattle all in together in one big drove. Then the 
captain of the round-up will direct the owner of ranch A to " cut " 
out his cattle. One of A's most experienced men will then ride into 
the drive until he sights an animal with his brand on. Deftly he 
will drive the animal to the outer ^dgQ of the herti, and then with 
a quick dash, run the beast out away from the drove, ami it is taken 
in charge by others of A's ranchmen, while the cutter goes back 
after another. After some fifteen or twenty minutes, .\'s cutter will 
be taken off and B's man given a chance. This will be continued 
until each ranch has its cattle cut out. If an\ cattle are fi)und 
without a brand, they are killed for the use of the men on the round- 
up. This cutting is a work requiring great skill and experience, and 
frequently requires the use of the lariat. Often cattle with a strange 
brand are found. If any one recognizes the brand, a ranclnnan li\ ing 
nearest the owner takes charge of it ami notifies the owner. If no 
one recognizes the brand, the captain of the rt)und-up ad\-ertises it. 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RA/S/NG. 567 

and if no owner is found, it is sold at auction for the benefit of the 
Cattlemen's Association. 

" ' These thin-s will go to show the responsibilities resting upon 
these men. I will tell you how they get the reputation for reckless- 
ness. We will suppose these men ha\-e been on a drive for six 
months and been paid off. Then they are just like any other body 
of men ; they go in for some fun, and on their lark ride yelling 
through the streets of some little town, shoot a few street lamps out, 
or get into a saloon row. Some imaginative correspondent immedi- 
ately sends an account of it U) some Eastern paper, where it comes 
out headed "Another Cowboy Outrage." Now, I know of hundreds 
of cowboys who never carry a revolver. They have strict ideas of 
honor, and they stand upon tlieir honor. They are off duty, a lot 
of big-hearted, rough boys, but they are not outlaws or outcasts. 
They are not the class of men who rob trains or hold up people 
crossing the plains, and I believe that, taken for all in all, the 
American cowboy will compare favorably in morals and manners 
with any similar number of citizens, taken as a class.' " 

A traveller in the West, writing to the Cliicago Herald, describes 
the heroic conduct of a cowboy as follows : — 

" One of the slickest things I e\-er saw in m}- travels, was a cow- 
boy stopping a cattle stampede. A herd of six or eight hundred had 
got frightened at something and broke away pell-mell, with their tails 
in the air, and the bulls at the head of the procession. But Mr. 
Cowboy didn't get excited at all when he saw the herd was going 
straight for a high bluff, where they would certainly tumble down 
into the caiion and be killed. You know that when a herd like that 
gets to going they can't stoj), no matter whether they rush to death 
or not. Those in the rear crowd those ahead, and away they go. 
I wouldn't have given a dollar a head for that herd, but the cowboy 
s])urred up his mustang, matle a little detour, came in right in front 
of the herd, cut across their path at a right angle, and then galloped 
leisurely on to the ciX'^o. of that bluff, halted, and looked around at 
that wild mass of beef coming right toward him. He was as cool as 
a cucumber, though I expected to see him killed, and was so excited 
I could not speak. Well, sir, when the leaders had got within about a 
cjuartcr of a mile of him I saw them try to slack up, though they 
could not do it \cry cpiick. lUit the whole herd seemed to want to 
stop, and when the cows and steers in the rear got about where 
the cowboy had cut across their ]xith, I was surprised to see them stop 
and commence to nibble at the s/rass. Then the whole herd stoijoed. 



568 



A/.l/yTELS OF THE XKll' 1 1 EST. 



wheeled, straggled back, and went to fighting for a chance to eat 
where the rear guard was. 

" Vou see that cowboy had ojiened a big bag of salt he had 
brought out from the ranch to give the cattle, galloped across the 
herd's course and emptied the bag. Every animal sniffed that line 
of salt. and. of course, that broke up" the stampede. But, I tell you. 
it was a queer sight to see that fellow out there on the edge of that 
bluff quietly rolling a cigarette, when it seemed as if he'd be lying 
under two hundred tons of beef in about a minute and a half." 



n 







STOPPIN. 



^.^5^ '^, 






THK 



Rorxn-up." 



We have said that, from Xovember to May. cattle wander where 
thev please for food. Cowboys bestow no special care upon them, 
except occasionally, after a severe storm, or during an unusually cold 
winter, they go out to find how it is with the herd. 

About the twentieth of Mav. however, the " round-up " begins. 



MARVELS 01' STOCK-RAISING. 



5^^9 



All the cattlemen in the district (the i;razin,<;- country is divided into 
districts, under the control of necessary laws) meet at a ;j;i\-en phu;e, 
each owner of a herd furnishini;- a L;i\en number of cowhoNs and 
horses, aecordini;- to the size of his herd ; an ori;anization is formed 
b\' the choit-e of captain and other necessary officers; and tin- 
e.\citin<;" and fascinating- business bej;ins. The co\vbo}s, upon their 
well-trained bronchos, sweep over the country, searching;- for and 
surrounding the scattered cattle, drivinj;- them towards an appointed 
locality, where, each da)', each stockman "cuts t)ut " his own cattle, 
brands the caK'cs, i;uards them at ni^hl, and drives them on the 



m^'<^^m 








Akji 



,i .\\.UU In I Mi 



\i\\ 



f« 'A 



GROUP OF COWBOYS. 



followinj;- day to another fixed locality, and thus on, until the home 
ranch is reached, when they are aj;ain turned loose. 

Many of the steers are wild as buffaloes, and often start off into 
a dead run just where the cowboys object to their i;'oinjj^, and it is a 
neck and neck race often for miles, or until the wild creatures arc 
exhausted. Here the excitement, as well as the dan<;ers of the 
business, come in. Sometimes a wild bull will turn upon his [)ursuer 
in a frenzy of madness, and the cowboy has but one- thim; to do — he 
must tmai from the enraged animal and run for dear lite. Neither 
hoise noi- rider cp.n wage successful warfare with a mad Indl. Morses 
are trained so thoroughly to the business that they voluntarily chase 
a steer when it is necessary, but run from him when that appears 
advisable. 



570 



MAKVELS OF THE A'Eir irEST. 



A writer in ihc Boston CoviDunial Bulletin describes his participa- 
tion in a round-up in Colorado, from which we make a few extracts: — 

" All in a moment the earth seemed fairly sprouting with cattle, 
as they suddenly sprang into sight on all sides, the insatiate curiosity 
of the animals drawing them from miles across the country to take a 
good look at us. Breathing hard with excitement, they would stand 
viewing us with eyes large from fright and defiance, until as we 
started for them away they would go, bellowing wildly and with a 
noise as of hundreds of beaten drums from the falling hoofs. 




THE "ROUND-UP. 



" And wildly exciting was the chase, our aims quite marvellously 
aided by the excellence of our ponies, who it would seem might 
almost have accomplished the task themselves. The perceptions of 
a trained cow-horse become marvellously acute. Guided by the 
smallest twitch on the reins, he seems to divine by a subtle instinct 
the will of the rider. Out of a large herd the horse will seem to 
comprehend at once what cattle are to be cut out, sighting an animal 
apparently at the same instant with his rider, and seeming to take a 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 5/1 

diabolical sort of delight in running the creature down and frustrating 
all its clumsy, contrary efforts to run the wrong way. 

******** 
"When a cowboy leaves his outfit to join any other, or for an 
expedition of any kind, he always takes his 'string' of horses, 
generally five or six, as well as all of his personal property, along 
with him. The tarpaulin — always pronounced as if spelled tarpau- 
lion, and we will therefore henceforth so call it — and the blankets, 
comprising his bed, are wrapped around the gentlest of his horses 
and made fast with a lariat in a good ' squaw hitch ' ; on top of this 
the precious war-sack is fastened with especial care, and thus, driving 
his horses ahead of him, with all his earthly responsibilities directly 
before his eyes, the cowboy sallies forth. He gets his ' grub ' at 
any ranch he may come to until he joins another grub wagon, and 
unrolls his bed on the ground wherever night overtakes him, corral- 
ling his horses if he is so lucky as to find a corral, otherwise hobbling 
them, that is, tying the forelegs together with a bit of rope. One 
horse, however, ready for immediate use, he always stakes." 

STARTING A LAUNDRY. 

"There were a few posts to be replanted at this point; but, for 
the most part, we had little to do, and we improved the leisure by 
establishing a little impromptu laundry by the river side. Our 
process was very simple. Wetting the garments thoroughly, we laid 
them out on the bank, rubbing them well over with soap ; we then 
scrubbed and slapped each piece vigorously between our hands, when 
we rinsed them well, wrung them out, spread them on the grass, and, 
lighting pipes, stretched our exhausted selves out beside them, keep- 
ing a lazy oversight on the drying. Some, more energetically 
ingenious, tied their clothes in a bunch to the end of a lariat, and, 
throwing them out in the stream, towed them up a piece against the 
current ; but, beyond its interesting eccentricity, there was little to 
be said in favor of this method. 

"The river comprised our entire toilet facilities, barring the hard 
soap on the grub wagon ; and we were wont to seize upon every 
opportunity for a bath and a swim in its murky waters." 

******** 

" The ideas of roughness and exposure suggested by sleeping out 
are not sustained by the facts in the cowboy's case, as in the tar- 
paulion properly folded he sleeps as warmly and comfortably as in a 



572 



MAR I -ELS OF THE XEir 1 1 EST. 



tent. The method of his bed-making is not without art of its own. 
He first spreads out his tarpauhon on the ground. On the middle, 
at one end, a few inches below the edge, vvidthwise, his blankets, 
each folded once through the middle, are laid ; his war-sack is 
arranged for a pillow, and then the tarpaulion is folded over the 
blankets on either side, making a sausage-like roll of the canvas 




some two feet wide, and the full sixteen feet long. Going to the 
foot then he makes a last fold just below his blankets, drawing the 
e.xtra length well up over his pillow, where it will extend a couple of 
feet, forming ample shelter from rain. 

"When one crawls into bed he first throws back the top folds of 
the tarpaulion, drawing it out a little wider than the bed beneath ; 
then boots, hat, chaparrals, and other garments are arranged above 
the pillow, and he gently insinuates himself down between the 



M.lRl'ELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 573 

blankets, pulling the extra length of canvas up over his head. If 
the wind blows hard, he reaches up and tucks the loose canvas well 
under his head, his covering presenting a smooth surface to the 
weather, and his body acting as a water-shed, so th.it lie can sleej) in 
warm security through the heaviest storm. With the blankets prop- 
erly folded inside the tarpaulion, the whole is rolled up into a huge 
roly-poly package during the day, going on the grub wagon when the 
camp moves ; and but a few minutes suffices at night for the cow- 
boy to 'roll down' liis bed, and establish himself in what his hard 
day's work has taught him to regard as sufficient luxury. 

"In getting started, a young lad, who had just joined the outfit 
at Sterling, having a bucking horse of extreme viciousness, was 
thrown twice, once lanchng safely on his feet, but the next lime 
striking on his head with terrible force. As the poor boy — ^he was 
no more than fourteen years old — staggered to Ids feet, sick and 
dizzy, to try it again, I took pity on him, and, riding out to the herd, 
roped up a fresh horse, while one of the other boys hastily he]i)ed 
me to shift the lad's saddle and help him on in good shape. Had he 
been a few years older, nobody would have dreamed of interfeiing, 
nor should I have ventured to do it even then had I seen the fore- 
man about. He was on hand, however; and his wrath at my irregu- 
larity of friendliness was prompt and outspoken, evidently increasing 
the unreasoning hostility with which he had all along regarded me. 

" Cowboys generally are skilled horsemen, many of them expert 
'broncho-breakers,' really capable of sustaining the common boast 
of being 'able to ride anything that wears hair.' Some of their 
fancy riding, picking up coins and blossoms from the ground while 
going at full speed, and other feats of a similar nature, are wonder- 
fully graceful. For these tricks, however, the horse, as well as the 
rider, must be trained, an undisciplined horse always stopping when 
one leans low from the saddle, which is likely to throw the rider from 
the force of inertia. A favorite feat of the cowboy broncho-breaker, 
and one by no means ea.sy, is to place silver dollars in his stirrups, — 
when he can get together so much wealth, — and back himself to 
hold the coins in place while he rides his horse at full speed, instigat- 
ing him to buck as much as possible." 

The reader will find much additional information about the round- 
up from the following description by a Kansas ranchman : — 

"This part of the country is drained by a number of rivers which 
all flow, roughly speaking, in a southeasterly direction. Between 
the rivers arc 'divides,' that is, tracts of land more or less elevated, 



574 



MARl'ELS OF THE XEll' If EST. 



and from them small streams or ' creeks ' run down, at various dis- 
tances from each other, to the rivers. Let us suppose that we are 
going to round up a certain section of country. Some point is fixed 
on the river that runs through that section, at which to commence 
work. Every one likely to have any cattle in that neighborhood 
sends one or more representatives, according to the number he ex- 
pects to find. The smaller owners club together and fit out a wagon 
with provisions, so that there may be with one wagon six or eight 




men representing as many different brands. The big men, who 
expect to find perhaps one thousand head, send a wagon of their own, 
with five or six riders. We will suppose the meeting-point about 
thirty miles from our camp. About two days before the time fixed 
for beginning work we load a wagon with provisions, according to 
the number of men who go with it, and the probable time of their 
absence. Each man puts in his own roll of blankets. A driver is 
provided, who has also to act as cook. Each of the riders is provided 
with several horses, the usual allowance being about five to a man. 
A horse-herder is generally taken, whose sole duty is to look after 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 575 

the loose horses. When we are ready we make our start, (h-ivini; the 
loose horses before us. 

" In the middle of the day we camp fc^- dinner, and pr()bal)ly wish 
to change our horses. To effect this, a couple of ropes are stretched 
from the wheels of the wagon, a man holding the end of each, so as 
to form an angle into which the horses are driven. The men stand 
behind the horses to prevent them from getting out at the open side 
of the triangle, each armed with a lariat, which he throws over the 
head of the particular animal he wishes to ride, and pulls him out of 
the herd. When every one has caught his horse, the remainder are 




GRUB WAGON FOR THE ROUND-UP ' 

turned loose again to graze, until it is time to go on. At night we 
camp beside a stream, if we can find one, and in order to prevent the 
horses from straying, we round them up again, and hobble them by 
tying a short rope to the forelegs of each. A couple of horses are 
picketed out, with which to get up the others in the morning. The 
following morning, at daybreak, the cook is up and gets breakfast 
for us, while two of the men go to hunt up the horses, unhobble 
them, and drive them back to the wagon. After breakfast the wagon 
is reloaded with the- bedding and cooking utensils, and we proceed 
on our journey. On reaching our destination that evening, we see 
wagons dotted about in every spot convenient for camping, while 
hundreds of horses are grazing about in herds, averaging, perhaps, 



576 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

fifty or sixty head. The men arc for the most part lounging round 
their camp-fires, discussing cattle, bragging of the speed of their 
horses, or describing the various brands of which they are in search. 
"The next morning we are early astir. The 'boss' of the range 
we are on comes along and tells us what he wants us to do. We are 
to work perhaps two creeks that morning. A party is sent up to the 
head of each creek to drive the cattle down to the mouth, while a 
third rounds up the cattle along the river. Our party is split up so 
that two or three may be present at each round-up, and as the men 
with our wagon are all well acquainted with each other's brands, we 
arrange to cut any cattle belonging to any of our party wherever we 
may find them. The detachments that are to work the creeks ex- 
tend .themselves on the way up, and throw on to the creeks all the 
cattle grazing in their neighborhood. When we get to the head 
water of our creek, which may be about five miles long, we bring in 
any cattle we can find on the divide, and then our whole party ride 
down, pushing all the cattle before them nearly to the river ; and 
wherever we find a convenient level, we round them up, the men 
posting themselves round the herd, which contains perhaps seven or 
eight hundred head, to prevent them from breaking away. Then 
the work of cutting out begins. The boss of the range has appointed 
two of his men to help to hold the herd, and also to prevent every- 
body from rushing in, as soon as the cattle are rounded up, and 
' ginning them around,' as he would call it, so that no one can work 
properly, and the calves all get separated from their mothers, making 
it impossible to tell to whom they belong. As soon as the cattle 
have quieted down, the word is given that one man from each outfit 
may go in and cut out. One of our party goes in, and wherever he 
sees an animal bearing one of our brands he runs it out, continuing 
•until we have collected a little bunch of cattle, which a second man 
herds, to prevent them from straying off and mixing with the other 
' cuts.' WHien we have got out all our cattle we drive them off 
towards our wagon. In the meantime two other round-ups have 
been proceeding, and our ' cuts ' from them are brought along and 
all thrown together, forming the nucleus of what we call our 'day- 
herd ' . . . ^ 

" A horse that knows what is wanted goes quietly through the 
herd while you are looking for your brand ; then, when you have 
singled out your animal and urged her on gently to the edge of the 
herd, he perceives at once which is the one to be ejected. When 
you have got her close to the edge, you make a little rush behind her, 



MAR ['ELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 



S7r 



and she runs out ; but as likely as not, as soon as she finds herself 
outside the herd she tries to get back again, and makes a sudden 
wheel to the left to get past you. Instantly your horse turns to the 
left, and runs along between her and the herd so that she cannot get 
in. Then she tries to dodge in behind you. The moment she turns, 
your horse stops and wheels round again, always keeping between 
the cow and the herd, till she gives it up and runs out to the cut 
where you want her. A good cutting horse will do ail this with the 
reins lying loose upon his neck. 

" But it is time to get our dinner. When that is over, we tell the 
cook to take the wagon up the river about six miles, and there camp. 




PREPARING FOR THE NIGHT-HERD. 



Two of our party are told off to follow with the day-herd, and the 
rest of us attend a couple more round-ups that take place in the after- 
noon. That night we picket out a horse apiece, as we have to herd 
our cattle. The leader of the party divides the night into so many 
reliefs, and tell each man at what hour he has to go 'on herd.' The 
next day we work on up the river in the same way, and so on ch- die 
in dicvi till we have rounded up all the cattle in that section of the 
country. 

" If our day-herd becomes unwieldy in size, we despatch it to the 
range with a couple of men, and commence a fresh herd. Notwith- 
standing all our care, some cattle are sure to be left behind. A cer- 
tain number have probably escaped being rounded up. A few we 



578 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

have accidentally missed, even when they were in the round-up, and 
some calves were not to be found, so that we have left the cows 
behind to hunt them up. In a few weeks, therefore, we shall work 
over the same ground again, and then we shall get nearly ever^lhing 
that we left behind on the first occasion." 

The same writer furnishes an incident showing how readily cattle 
learn : — 

•' The cattle were so well acquainted with my movable shanty that 
they felt quite at home near it. They had a very annoying habit of 
getting up early in the morning, just as one was enjoying his final 
and sweetest nap, and rubbing their foreheads against the corners of 
the house, every now and then bringing their horns with a bang 
against the sides. When we moved down on Big Sandy, we had to 
wait two or three days before we could get a man to haul down the 
shanty, so we bedded the cattle on the opposite side of the creek to 
that on which we intended to station the house, in order that they 
might get into the habit of sleeping a little way off from it ; but the 
very first night after it arrived they all with one consent moved 
across the creek and bedded themselves close beside it." 

A ranchman relates the following incident illustrative of the peri- 
lous experience of cattle-driving : — 

"One is not ordinarily much troubled by insomnia when cattle- 
driving, but I had a bad nightmare one night, which was not imagi- 
nary, but came in the shape of a real cow. I had taken the first 
relief at night-herding, and when my time was up, and I had called 
the next man, I lay down near the herd and was soon unconscious of 
all around. While I was enjoying my peaceful slumbers, an old 
brute of a cow came grazing in my direction, and as soon as she saw 
the herder coming round to turn her in, she started to run. When 
she came to where I was lying, she planted her foot on my chest, 
having scraped my lip with her hoof, and she then stepped on the 
leg of one of the boys, who was sleeping beside me, who awoke with 
a fearful yell, exclaiming that his leg was broken ! For a few minutes 
I felt doubtful whether I was half killed or not, but finally came to 
the conclusion that I was not much damaged, and, my neighbor 
seeming also to perceive that this first rash statement respecting his 
leg was untenable, we soon resigned ourselves again to the arms of 
Morpheus." 

A stockman from whom we have already quoted describes the 
horses chiefly used, thus : — 

" They are for the most part bred in Texas, and are exactly suited 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 



579 



to the work required of them. They are o;enerally small, but re- 
markably tough. A man does not think anything of catching up one 
from grass and riding him forty or fifty miles in a day. They are 
never given any corn during the summer, and, if at the beginning of 
winter they are turned loose in fair condition, they will hold their 
own on the grass, and fatten up very fast as soon as the green grass 
comes in the spring. Those that are used in the winter require 
some grain. Notwithstanding their small size, they are up to con- 
siderable weight. The Mexican saddle in general use weighs from 
thirty to forty pounds, 
and on top of that you 
may sometimes see a 
man of fourteen or fif- 
teen stone. 1 In point 
of temper they vary 
considerably. Some 
are as docile as could 
be wished, while a good 
many are addicted to 
'bucking.' When a 
horse bucks he puts his 
head down between his 
legs, arches his back 
like an angry cat, and 
springs into the air 
with all his legs at 
once, coming down 
again with a frightful 
jar, and he sometimes 
keeps on repeating the 

performance until he is completely worn out with the excursion. The 
rider is apt to feel rather worn out too by that time, if he has kept his 
seat, which is not a very easy matter, especially if the horse is a real 
scientific bucker, and puts a kind of side action into every jump. The 
double girth commonly attached to these Mexican saddles is useful 
for keeping the saddle in its place during one of those bouts, but 
there is no doubt that they frequently make a horse buck who would 
not do so with a single girth. With some animals you can never 
draw up the flank girth without setting them bucking. ... A really 




-<rf^-^ 



A BUCKING HORSc 



A "stone " in Great Britain is fourteen pounds. 




5 So MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

good Texas cow-pony, when broken, is worth from sixty to seventy 
dollars. The common sort can be had for half that price." 

When the cattle of a district are all collected, the work of " cut- 
ting out " the cattle of each owner begins. It is an exciting and 
interesting feature of the round-up. Each owner has his brand, 
which is properly recorded at a State office ; and his cowboys, skilled 
in the business, separate his cattle from the herd one by one. The 
cowboys not engaged in cutting out surround the herd and keep 

them together. The illustration 
shows the present style of branding 
cattle. 

This brand is taken from the book 
of brands published by the " Wyo- 
ming Stock-Growers' Association." 
The book contains the brand em- 
ployed by every member of the asso- 
ciation. Other knidred associations 
employ the same method, so that all the brands of the country are 
known, and to whom they belong. Under this arrangement the loss 
of cattle by straying, theft, or false claim is small. 

Branding cattle is cruelty. The above brands are burned into the 
hide with red-hot iron. The cruelty of the method has prompted 
cattlemen to seek some better way to mark their property. But as 
yet, no method has been discovered that meets the conditions of 
ranch life so well as this. There is no doubt that some other way 
of marking cattle will be discovered, superseding the present cruel 
method. 

The cowboy fastens his eyes upon an animal wearing his employ- 
er's brand, and then proceeds to separate it from the herd. It is not 
so long and difficult a job as might at first appear, though often an 
exciting race and hard tussle transpires. Calves, of course, will fol- 
low their mothers, and the mothers will not leave their calves for 
much of a run. An eye-witness says of this part of the round- 
up:— 

" Experienced cowboys ride in among the cattle, and, selecting 
the animals bearing their employer's brand, drive them out of the 
general herd and form others, each composed of cattle representing 
one ownership. This work is called 'cutting out.* The men not 
engaged in cutting out are employed in ' holding ' the herds. The 
foreman of the round-up has supervision of the work, and sees that 
cattle are claimed only by the men entitled to them. 



MARVELS OF STO(iK-RAISING. 



581 



"When cutting- out has been finished at one general herd, another 
is 'worked' in the same manner, and then another, and so on, 
until all the cattle driven in during the day's round-up have been 
inspected and separated. 

"When the cowboys have taken from the herds all the cattle 
belonging to their respective employers, there are usually a few 
cattle left over. These are estrays and mavericks. Both classes 
are disposed of under regulations of the association. 

" Stray animals whose owners are unknown, and which are of a 
marketable weight, are taken up, shipped, and marketed. A report 
of the fact is made to an association inspector, and the proceeds are 






ROPING AND CUTTING OUT. 




remitted to the secretary of the association, who keeps an account 
of the money for the purpose of turning it over to the owner of the 
estrays, should he be found. But if by the time of the next annual 
meeting no one has claimed the purchase money, it becomes part of 
the general fund of the association. 

"A 'maverick ' is an unbranded calf away from its mother. The 
custom among stockmen, recognized by the rules of the association, 
is to brand a maverick found on the general round-up with the mark 
belonging to the largest female herd in the neighboriiood." 

Branding calves follows 'cutting out,' which requires the services 
of four men. While calves are expected to stick to their mothers, 
they are so wild and nimble that often the cowboy has a race after 
them. A strapping great cowboy on his horse, chasing one of these 



582 MARl'ELS OF THE XEW llEST. 

diminutive little creatures has been the occasion of much loud 
laughter that is comical indeed. Mr. Keyes, speaking from per- 
sonal observation, says : — 

" Perhaps you may think that this is an easy task ; but you would 
find if you tried it that you were never more mistaken in your life, 
for the ease with which the rancheros accomplish it has only come 
with careful training and long practice. The little animal runs won- 
derfully fast, springs, turns, and dodges almost like a flash. But the 
cowboy never takes his eyes off of him ; and the trained horse, now 
well warmed up, and entering fully into the spirit of the chase, 




responds to, almost seems to anticipate, every turn of his rider's left 
hand and wrist. Meanwhile the latter, with his right arm, is swing- 
ing his noosed rope, or lasso ; and in another minute he has thrown 
it exactly over the calf's head. Instantly the horse plunges forward, 
giving 'slack' to the rope, and allowing it to be wound around the 
horn of the saddle ; then he moves on, dragging the calf after him, 
and the little creature is soon in the hands of the men with the 
branding-irons. These have been heated in a hot fire, and are 
quickly applied ; and in a few minutes, the calf, now indelibly desig- 
nated as the property of his master, is again running about." 

After the general round-up in summer, there follows the beef 
round-up, collecting cattle which are in a good condition for the 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 



583 



market. This occurs in August and September, so that the beeves 
can be sent to market in October. This is the most interesting part 
of the whole year to the stockman ; for he learns at this time what 
his profits are. His object in raising cattle is to make money, 
appeasing the hunger of his fellow-men being only incidental to his 
business. Hence, he is happy when his beef from a herd of two 




thousand returns him seven or eight thousand dollars ; or his herd of 
three thousand returns him ten thousand dollars for beef ; or his herd 
of twelve thousand animals returns him forty or fifty thousand dollars ; 
or his herd of twenty-five thousand returns a round one hundred 
thousand dollars for beef. Such returns are in perfect harmony with 
the genial days of October ; and no wonder the stockman is " con- 
tented with all the world, and all the world with him." 

But his fat cattle must be sent by rail to market, probably to 



584 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

Kansas City or Chicago. He may be twelve or fifteen hundred 
miles away from his market ; and it is no small job to transport 
cattle that distance, many of them as wild as beasts of prey. 

The herd may be many miles from the railroad — twenty-five, 
one hundred miles, or even more. They must be driven over this 
distance, subject, in some localities, to the driving snow-storms of 
the season, in which man and beast suffer seriously. Full as much 
care and watch must be bestowed upon them at night as through the 
day. But they reach the railroad station, where suitable corrals are 
found in which to enclose them until freight-cars appear. We have 
known a stockman to wait thirteen days in a storm of snow and sleet 
for the expected cars, man and beast suffering intensely night and 
day. 

The following description of a "night run " of cattle in Montana, 
going to the railroad, will furnish the reader with additional ideas 
about the cowboy's trials : — 

" A large herd of big steers for market were being driven across 
the country from Musselshell to Billings, on the Northern Pacific 
Railroad, where they were to be shipped on the cars for Chicago. 
There were about two thousand head, I should judge, the property of 
a Mr. De Hass, a very young man. One evening a military camp 
had been made just ahead of the cattle, and on the same side of the 
creek with them, up which the cattle were being driven. A storm 
was coming up, and the cattle exhibited some signs of uneasiness. 
Mr. De Hass sent word to the military officer that he had better get 
his men, wagons, and animals on the opposite side of the creek and 
out of the way, as he feared there was going to be a "night run." 
The herders were instructed to keep their horses saddled and be 
ready to mount at a moment's notice. The cattle were very uneasy, 
getting up, lying down again, and shifting about as if uncomfortable. 
At last, about midnight, there came a sharp flash of lightning, 
followed by a heavy peal of thunder, and in an instant the whole herd 
were upon their feet. ' Mount and whip out,' cried De Hass, and 
the herder who was at the head of the column drove off a few of the 
leading steers in the direction they were to go. All the others 
followed, and the herd was soon in full flight. The herders made no 
effort to check or control them, further than to keep them going 
straight ; they rode at the head of the column, one on each side of 
them, swung to the right or left, and keeping the trail ; bluffs and 
precipices were avoided, and the open flat ground courted. The run 
lasted about two hours, when a gorge was being neared, in which the 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 585 

cattle would crowd and break their limbs. They were now quite 
tired, and the herders determined to exert their authority and stop 
the run. The head of the column was bent out on the prairie, and 
circled round and round until the cattle became tied up in a huge 
ball and could not move at all. In this way they were obliged to 
stay till morning, the herders riding round and round them, and 
keeping them completely tied up. At daylight they were allowed to 
"open out." First, the outer edge scattered, and then layer after 
layer, until the huge pile of beef was once more a herd, grazing as 
quietly as if nothing had happened." 

When the train arrives, the cowboys meet a very difficult prob- 
lem to solve ; viz., putting the cattle on board the cars. Think of 
enticing or driving a wild steer into a car ! The average steer is not 
drawn naturally toward a railroad train. To him the car is a " new- 
fangled notion," which has no attractions for him. He protests 
against such a mode of conveyance, and sets up his Ebenezer, as wild 
steers only can. But the cowboys know their business, and they 
know their steers, too. Brute force always surrenders to intellectual 
power. The cowboy conquers in the end. 

It is hard work — indeed, the whole cattle business is hard work ; 
and the boys never have harder work than they do between the time 
of herding the cattle, and delivering them at Kansas City or Chicago. 
For the cattle must not be allowed to lie down. A car will hold 
from eighteen to twenty-two animals, in the standing posture ; and, 
if one lies down, the cowboy, on the alert both night and day, must 
punch the animal up. If one lies down, others will trample on him. 
Of course there is no sleep for the cowboy on the way to market. 
Day and night are alike to him. When the destination is reached, it 
is difficult to tell which is in the most pitiable condition, the cowboy 
or the cow. This is especially true when the distant market sought 
is Chicago. Most of the cowboys declare, when the trip is accom- 
plished, " Never catch me in that business again " ; but they forget 
the hardships before the next annual market season, and play the 
heroic over again. 

" Blabbing calves," as it is called, is a method adopted to wean a 
calf when the mother is growing thin. " A ' blab ' is a piece of thin 
board, six inches by four inches, which has a piece cut out of the 
middle of one of the longer sides, so shaped that you can just force 
it on to the membrane that divides the nostrils of a calf. When put 
on, it hangs down over the mouth of the animal so that it cannot 
suck, but is able to graze without difficulty. When you start out on 



586 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



a blabbing expedition, you place several blabs in your pocket and ride 
along till you see a big calf whose dam looks as if she would be the 
better for being relieved of the support of her progeny. You then 
take your lariat off your saddle, and, holding it in convenient coils in 
your left hand, with the running noose in your right, you gallop after 
the calf till you get close up to it. Then you whirl the noose round 
your head two or three times, to get a good swing, and launch it at 
the head of the calf. If you are like me, you will probably find no 
result, the calf continuing to pursue his way across the prairie with 
the same vigor as before. Then, if you have a professional cowboy 




M^^M.. 











y 



t^ o^^^. ^^,^ 



CHICAGO S70CKYARDS. 

with you, he takes up the running, and probably brings the calf to 
book before long, though even he will not always succeed at the first 
throw. When you have the calf roped, it is an easy matter to throw 
him down and stick the blab on his nose, after which you turn him 
loose and go on in quest of another." 

Since the New West contributes so largely to make the stock- 
yards of Chicago what they are, we will stop here to describe them. 

The stockyards of Chicago are a cattle city, covering three hun- 
dred and twenty acres, laid out in complete order, lighted with gas, 
supplied with pure water, with ample hotel accommodations for 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 587 

cattlemen, and connected by rail with the entire railway system of 
the West. Two hundred acres have been covered with yards, pens, 
feed-barns, scale-houses, and platforms for loading and unloading 
stock. The remaining one hundred and twenty acres are covered 
with railway switch-tracks, side-tracks, etc., for the purpose of con- 
necting the marvellous city of live stock with the railroad world. 
There are seventy-five miles of these switch and side-tracks. 

This remarkable city of live stock has a bank, an exchange, tele- 
graph and telephone offices, a post-office, and a newspaper. It has 
thirty-five miles of sewers, ten miles of streets and alleys, paved 
with wood, three miles of water-troughs, two thousand three hun- 
dred gates, two Artesian wells, and a fire department. 

An average of seven hundred men daily is employed to conduct 
the business of the stockyard ; receiving, yarding, feeding, watching, 
weighing, and delivering stock. Miles of elevated drive-way have 
been constructed for driving cattle and hogs over the ground lots, 
pens, etc., from the central portion of the yards to the different 
packing houses adjacent, and to the shipping departments. Of 
course, the Union Stockyards of Chicago are a marvel so unique 
and remarkable that the sight-seer who does not visit them can 
scarcely be said to have seen Chicago. 

These stockyards were opened in 1866, and received that year, 
393,607 cattle, 961,746 hogs, 207,987 sheep, 1,553 horses, valued at 
$42,765,328. In 1884 the receipts were, 1,870,050 cattle, 5,351,967 
hogs, 801,630 sheep, 18,602 horses, valued at $187,387,680. For 
several years past it has taken 200,000 railway cars to transport all 
the animals received at the yards. The outlet for all this stock 
touches nearly every portion of the civilized world. 

On Jan. i, 1885, $5,000,000 had been expended in the construc- 
tion of the Union Stockyards ; and their capacity for receiving and 
yarding stock, at any one time, was 20,000 cattle, 150,000 hogs, 10,000 
sheep, and 1,500 horses. 

From the report of the company for 1885 we quote following 
statistics : — 

Largest Kcceipts of Stock in a Day. 

Cattle, Aug. 27, 18S5 12,096 

Calves, Sept. i, 1SS5 ii773 

Hogs, Dec. 5, 1884 66,597 

Sheep, Feb. 24, 1885 io,937 

Horses, Oct. 5, 1S74 460 

Cars, Dec. 10, 18S4 1,522 



588 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

Largest Receipts of Stock in One IVeek. 

Cattle, week ending Oct. 20, 1883 52,192 

Calves, week ending Sept. 12, 1885 4.369 

Hogs, week ending Nov. 20, 1SS4 300,488 

Sheep, week ending Dec. 19, 1885 32,027 

Horses, week ending March 26, 1S81 1.125 

Cars, week ending Dec. 6, 1884 6,964 

Largest Receipts of Stock in One Month. 

Cattle, October, 1883 217,791 

Calves, September, 1885 15,449 

Hogs, November, 1880 1,111,997 

Sheep, December, 1885 109,111 

Horses, March, 1873 4,253 

Cars, December, 1884 25,387 

Largest Receipts of Stock in One Year. 

Cattle, 1885 1,905.518 

Calves, 1885 58,500 

Hogs, 1880 7-059,355 

Sheep, 1885 1,003,598 

Horses, 1878 20,289 

Cars, 1885 214,146 

Valuation of Stock for Twenty Years. 

1866 $42,765,328 1 1876 $111,185,650 

1867 42,375,241 1877 99,024,100 

878 106,101,879 



1868 52,506,288 

1869 60,171,217 

1870 62,090,631 

1871 60,331,082 



1879 114,795,834 

1880 143,057,626 

1881 1-83,007,710 

1872 87,500,000 1882 196,670,221 

1873 91,321,162 ' 1883 201,252,772 

1874 115,049,140 1884 187.387,680 

1875 117.533.942 1885 173,598,002 

Total $2,247,725,506 

Average weight of hogs, 1885 239 lbs. 

How it is that cattle can be exposed through the extreme cold of 
winter and not perish in the most northern latitudes of the New 
West is an enigma to many. Perhaps the following brief statement 
from the Bismarck Ttibtine, concerning the cattle business in Mon- 
tana and Dakota, will throw light upon the subject : — 

" It is now conceded that Montana and a portion of Dakota is the 
greatest stock region in the world. The country is rolling, and the 
cattle find excellent shelter from severe storms which sometimes 
prevail. The snow-fall is light and the snow is dry. No crust forms, 
and cattle do not freeze their feet, as is the case in Kansas and 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAIS/NG. 589 

Nebraska, where sleet storms are frequent. At no time in the 
winter does the snow cover entirely the cured grasses of the Mon- 
tana ranges. Cattle have no trouble to get enough to sustain life 
and even get fat. In Kansas frequently the backs (jf the cattle arc 
covered with ice to the dei)th of an inch or two, and the wet snow 
'balls' on their feet. A severe cold snap comes, and the animals 
die from exhaustion and frozen feet. Montana and Dakota has been 
the winter home of buffalo for years, and wherever they live and 
thrive, there also will cattle do well." 

The Pioneer Press speaks of the Northwestern stock ranges as 
follows : — 

" Persons uninformed as to the nature of the country, and know- 
ing that the cold has been extreme throughout the Northwest this 
winter, are apt to refuse credence to the statement that the loss of 
animal life on the Montana and Dakota ranges, so far, has been 
slight, and the prospects are good for successful wintering of stock 
through the remainder of the season. Those who know the peculiar 
adaptability of the country in question to stock-raising are not sur- 
prised at the small loss of life reported. Montana and Dakota 
beeves have far better chances to pull through the severest weather 
safely than their brethren of Kansas and Nebraska, and the statistics 
show that the amount of loss in the former is not nearly so large as 
in the latter division. In the Northwestern Territories the ground 
used for ranges is broken by coulees and ravines, which afford per- 
fect protection from the wind, no matter how fiercely it rages on the 
plains above. Cattle are like men in that they can stand a terrific 
degree of still cold, but when exposed to storm perish quickly. In 
portions of Montana, strange as it may seem, the winter season is far 
shorter than it is farther south, since the chinook winds, which often 
commence early in February, divest the ground of snow, and leave 
the succulent buffalo grass exposed and easy picking. The coulees, 
too, are not all drifted full, many of them showing drifts on one .side 
only, while the other is bare, or so nearly so that acclimated cattle 
will paw the snow aside readily and graze with little hindrance. The 
grazing country of Nebraska and Kansas is far flatter than that 
further north, the wind gets a wider and longer sweep, and the thin 
belts of timber along the streams are but little, if any, protection. 
Besides, the upper animals are inured to colder weather and v/ill 
thrive in a temperature which would be certain death to the hardie.st 
of Kansas or Nebraska steers. Any honest ranchman, from north 
or south, will bear witness to the truth of these statements." 



590 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



In estimatini;- the profits of stock-raising in the New West, it is 
usual to deduct five per cent for losses by the cold of winter. But, 
in ordinary winters the average loss will not be more than two or 
three per cent. In winters of great severity, the losses will run up 
to ten, fifteen, and even thirty per cent ; but such winters are in- 
frequent. A stockman writes : — ■ 

" As the days grow warmer, an annoying insect called the ' heel- 
fly ' makes its appearance. The cattle are in great dread of this pest, 




FROM THE MIRE. 



and the instant an animal feels one, it hoists its tail in the air and 
takes a bee-line for the nearest water. Now a good many of the 
streams and water-holes in that part of the country have very miry 
bottoms, so that a cow plunging violently in is very apt to stick 
there, and, unless assisted out, will certainly perish. Often more 
cattle are lost in that way than from all other causes, and it is advisa- 
ble during the spring, and especially during the heel-fly season, which 
fortunately docs not last longer than three weeks, to ride along the 
dangerous places in a range every day. When a cow is disco\'ered 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RA/SLYG. 59 1 

mired down, two or three men throw their lariats over her horns 
(if she has none, then over her neck), and taking two or three turns 
with tlie rope round the horns of their saddle, drag her out on terra 
firuia. If she has not been in very long, she generally goes off all 
right ; but if she has been in a sufficient time to become thoroughly 
chilled, she will probably die. Sometimes her legs are so benumbed 
that she has to be assisted up before she can stand, and when this 
happens, frequently the first thing which she does when she finds 
herself on her feet is to put down her head and charge her deliverers. 
But in her weakened condition it is easy enough to get out of her 
way, and she either falls down in her further attempt or abandons 
the chase." Of the Texas fever, he remarks : — 

" Texas, or Spanish fever, as it is sometimes called, in a very curi- 
ous disease. It usually originates with cattle that have come up 
from Southern Texas. . . . But the peculiarity about Texas fever is 
that the originators of it do not die from it nor even appear to be 
diseased. When, however, any of the ' graded ' cattle come in con- 
tact with one of those fever-breeding herds, or even graze over the 
ground along which one has passed, it may be weeks previously, 
sickness and death are sure to follow. The better bred an animal is, 
the more liable is he to the disease. Texas cattle that have been 
wintered in Kansas sometimes show symptoms of disease after being 
exposed to the contagion of a herd from the south, but they usually 
soon recover, while in a herd graded up with short horn or other fine 
blood mortality is often considerable. But an animal that has thus 
caught the disease cannot communicate it further. It never spreads 
beyond those that have received the contagion directly from the 
Texas herd. Consequently the fears sometimes expressed that Texas 
fever might be imported into England are perfectly groundless." 

The prairie fire is a foe to stock-raising, endangering often both 
ranch and herds and flocks. A Dakota newspaper describes a prairie 
fire in that territory thus : — 

" Last Sunday evening, as the sun was sinking in the western 
horizon, a fire was noticed encircling this place, and at no greater dis- 
tance than twenty miles to the north and west. The scene that immedi- 
ately followed was too horrible to be thought lightly of. The whole 
heavens seemed as one mass of seething, hissing fire. The roar that 
accompanied the flames as they darted upward, was enough to startle 
the pioneer and completely shatter the bold and fearless tenderfoot. 
The dense cloud of smoke that hovered above the fire sent huge coils 
upward that, as the flare of the flames showed against them, pictured 



592 



MARVELS OF THE XEll' 1 1 EST. 



to the beholders standing below and shivering- with fear, grimacing 
demons as they flitted about in their aerial home in the skies. 

" A cry was raised, and in a few minutes the citizens had turned 
out en masse with wet bags and coal oil torches, and going to the 
north *and northwest limits of the town along the wagon trail leading 
west, immediately plied the torches. The grass went off like powder, 
burning a back-fire twentv feet wide in an instant, reaching nearlv a 




A PRAIRIE FIRE. 

half-mile. Then to meet the creeping flames approaching from the 
north, a double back-fire was started by the torchmen, and had just 
been completed when the roar of the flames was heard ascending the 
hill — only in a moment to flash in the tall grass and meet the back- 
fire with the swish peculiar to the concussion following the discharge 
of a cannon. The -fire to the west was then about two miles distant, 
but nearing at the rate of about eighteen miles an hour ; and when 
the north fire had been safely met, all hands went to the southwest 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 593 

trail, running to about twenty yards north oi tlie new school-house, 
and started a back-fire on the north side of the trail, and then bring- 
ing the fire over the trail, it was left to burn around the soutii side of 
the school-house, being watched by eight or ten to prevent the fire 
spreading to the building. At one time it seemed as thougti the 
blaze would get the best of them, but the wet sacks were applied and 
the flames subdued. Others parties were sent in different directions 
and succeeded in checking the fire. The damage done, however, was 
estimated at $10,000." 

When such a fire is started near the stockman's ranch or herd, 
everything is in peril. A woman on a ranch was asked by a visitor 
from the East, ''What are your precautions against fire .^ " She 
replied : — 

" A can of kerosene and a bundle of matches to set back-fires with, 
though the fire-guards of ploughed ground that you have seen all round 
the ranch are the ounce of prevention, better than any cure. Then 
we always keep a hogshead full of water at the stable, ready for 
carting to the spot." 

" A hogshead of water ! What good can a hogshead of water do 
against a prairie fire .-* " 

" Oh, we don't put it on with a hose, I assure you. My imagina- 
tion gasps at the conception of managing a prairie fire with a hose. 
We dip old blankets and old clothes in it, or boughs of tree if we can 
get them, and beat the fire down with them." 

'* The illustration followed soon. All day smoke had been drift- 
ing over Cameiro (Kansas), and at nightfall the scouts reported that 
the whole force better be put on. The 'whole force' at the mo- 
ment consisted of about twenty men who had just come in to supper, 
and who started at once in wagons and on horseback. Ponies were 
ordered after dinner for the entire household, even the ladies riding 
far enough to have a view of the exciting scene, — parties from New 
York were spending the summer here. There were no tumbling 
walls or blazing buildings, and there was no fear of lives being lost 
in upper stories ; but there were miles upon miles, acres upon acres, 
of low grass burning like a sea of fire, while in the twilight shadows 
could be seen men galloping fiercely on swift ponies, while the slow 
wagons crept painfully, lest the precious water should be spilled, 
from every homestead, each with its one pitiful hogshead. It seemed 
incredible that such a mass of flame could ever be put out by such 
a handful of workers ; and it was only, indeed, by each man's laboring 
steadily at his own arc of the great circle, trusting blindly that others 



594 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

were at work on the other side, as of course they always were, that 
the lurid scene darkened down at last." 

An eye-witness describes as follows, the way of guarding ranches 
and stock against prairie fires : — 

" Adjoining the sheep ranch was a cattle ranch belonging to a 
Swiss gentleman, a brother-in-law of the American sheep-man, and 
they made a common fire-guard to go round both their ranges. The 
plan was to plough four furrows all round the outside of the ranges, 
and then another ring of .four furrows was ploughed inside the first, 
at a distance of about fifty yards. In order to make the operation of 
burning the guard safer, a mowing-machine had been run round on 
the outside of the outer ring of furrows and on the inside of the inner 
ring. The total length of the guard was about seven miles. After the 
ploughing and mowing were done, we proceeded to burn the guard. 
Two men fired the grass along the two sets of furrows, the furrows 
preventing the fire from getting into the range or out to the open 
country. Behind the men firing came two men with wet sacks, with 
which to beat out the fire in case it showed any inclination to jump 
the furrows. A fifth man drove a wagon which contained a tub of 
water in which to wet the sacks from time to time. The man firing 
on the leeward side of the guard would always precede the other by 
a little, so that when the flame was swept across by the wind it 
might be met by the back-fire from the leeward furrows, which would 
prevent so much danger of its getting over into the grass beyond the 
guard.^ Of course it would not be safe to attempt to burn the guard 
when the wind was at all strong. The fire-guard, when completed, 
presents a barrier of bare ground to an approaching prairie fire, which 
the latter is unable to cross for lack of combustible matter to feed on. 
It has to be renewed every autumn, as during the spring and summer 
it becomes overgrown with grass again." 

THR SHEEP RANCH. 

It is claimed by many that raising sheep is more profitable than 
raising cattle. Whether this be true or not, the sheep business of 
the New West has become very extensive. Flocks of from one to 
ten thousand are numerous. They multiply very rapidly, so that 
a flock of one thousand is doubled and trebled in a marvellously brief 
period. It is estimated that there are four hundred and fifty million 
sheei;) in the world, and that about one-seventh of them — (66,000,000) 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 



595 



sixty-six million — are raised in the United States. Of this number 
the New West has its full share. 

We have collected estimates of the profits of sheep-raisini; from 
various sources, to which we shall first call attention. 

Mr. Hayes has the following in Harper s Monthly oi January, i8<So, 
and he says of the figures : ■ — 

"They apply to the case of a man with capital, coming out, not to 
take up or pre-empt land, but to buy a ranch ready to his hand. 

" Such a one, capable of accommodating five thousand head of 
sheep, could be had, say, for $4,000, comprising at least three claims 
three to five miles apart, also proper cabins, corrals, etc. A flock of 




two thousand assorted ewes, two to three years old, should be bought 
at an average of $3 each, say $6,000 ; and 60 bucks at an average of 
$30, or $1,800. A pair of mules and a saddle-horse will cost $275 ; 
and we will allow for working capital, $1,925. Capital invested, say, 
Oct. I, $14,000. 

" Under ordinarily favorable circumstances, and with great care, 
one may expect during May his lambs, and estimate that there will 
be alive of them at time of weaning a number equal to seventy-fi\-e 
per cent of his ewes, or, say, one thousand five hundred, on the ist 
of October, a year from the time of beginning operations. 

" His gross increase of values and receipts will then be, for that 
year, as follows : — 



596 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

1,500 lambs (average one-half ewes, one-half wethers), at S2 each Sj.ooo.oo 

In June he will shear his wool, and get from : 

2,000 ewes, 5 pounds each, or 10,000 pounds, at 21 cents . . . $2,100.00 

60 bucks, 17 pounds each, or 1,000 pounds, at 15 cents .... 150.00 2,250.00 

35,250.00 

Expenses : 

Herders, teamsters, cook, and provisions $1,835.00 

Shearing 2,060 sheep, at 6 cents 123.60 

Hay and grain 275.00 

$2,233.60 
Losses (all estimated as made up, in money) : 

Ewes, 4 per cent on S6,ooo S240.00 

Bucks, 5 per cent on Si, 800 90.00 330.00 

Depreciation : 
On bucks, 5 per cent on Si, 800 90.00 2,653.60 

Net profits for first year $2,596.40 

, Second Year. 

The 1.500 lambs will be a year older, and worth an additional 15 per cent (or 15 

per cent on $3,000) S450.00 

1,500 new lambs will be worth, as before 3,000.00 

And there will be of wool from : 

2,000 sheep, 5 pounds each, or 10,000 pounds, at 21 cents . . . $2,100.00 
1,500 lambs, 4 pounds each, or 6,000 pounds, at 21 cents . . . 1,260.00 
60 bucks, 17 pounds each, or 1,000 pounds, at 15 cents .... 150.00 3,510.00 

$6,960.00 
Expenses : 

Herders, etc $2,060.00 

Shearing 3,560 sheep, at 6 cents 213.60 

Hay and grain 350.00 

$2,623.60 

flosses : 

On ewes, 4 per cent on $6,000 $240.00 

On bucks, 5 per cent on $1,800 90.00 

On lambs, 7 per cent on $3,000 2! 0.00 54000 

Depreciation : 

On ewes, 5 per cent on $6,000 $300.00 

On bucks, 5 per cent on $1,800 90.00 390.00 3.553 60 

Net profits for second year $3,406.40 

Thircf Year. 

The second year's lambs will be worth an additional 15 per cent, or, say (15 per 

cent on $3,000) $450.00 

There will be 1,500 lambs from original 2,000 ewes, and, say, from new 750 ewes 
(one-half of 1,500), not more than 60 per cent in first lambing, or, say, 450 — 
in all, 1,950 lambs, at $2 3,900.00 

Wool will be : 

From 3,500 ewes, 5|< pounds each, or 19,250 pounds, at 21 cents $4,042.50 
From 1,950 lambs, 4 pounds each, or 7,800 pounds, at 21 cents 1,638.00 

From 60 bucks, 17 pounds each, or 1,000 pounds, at 15 cents . . 150.00 5,830.50 

$10,180.50 



MARVELS OF STOCK-KAISING. 597 

Expenses : 

Herders and fodder $2,970.00 

Shearing 5,510 sheep, at 6 cents 330.60 

New corrals, etc 300.00 

;?3,6oo.6o 

Losses : 

On ewes, 4 per cent, on $6,000 $240.00 

On new sheep, 4 per cent on $4,500 180.00 

On lambs, 7 per cent on $3,000 210.00 

On bucks, 5 per cent on $1,800 go.oo 720.00 

Depreciation : 

On old ewes, 10 per cent on $6,000 $600.00 

On bucks, 20 per cent on $1,800 360.00 960.00 5,280.60 

Net profits for third year $4,899.90 

Recapitulation. 

First year's profits $2,596.40 

Second year's profits 3,406.40 

Third year's profits 4,899.90 

Total $10,902.70 

An official document from Idaho says : — 

" There are not many sheep raised here, but the business is a good 
one. Some time since I had a conversation with a friend in relation 
to his experience in sheep-raising, and learned the following facts : — 

In May, 1877, he bought 404 ewes and 123 wethers, at $3.00 . . . $1,581.00 

In 1878 he sold 200 at $3.00 $600.00 

In 1879 he sold 200 at $3.00 600.00 

In 1880 he sold 200 at $2.50 500.00 

When talking with me he had 2,300 for which he had been offered $2.00 each . 4,600.00 

Total $6,300.00 

Deduct cost of flock 1,581.00 

Profit $4,719.00 

" During the time he had not purchased any sheep, and was 
unable to tell the amount of wool he had sold, but it is fair to pre- 
sume that the amount received for the sale of wool would more than 
pay for the labor of looking after his flock, and the small amount 
expended in buying what hay was fed to them. 

Mr. Fossett says of sheep-raising in Colorado : — 
" Thus far, the business of sheep-raising in Colorado has been 
very profitable. A flock of 1,800 ewes, costing $4,500, were placed 
on a ranch in Southern Colorado. In eight years 1,600 sheep were 
killed for mutton, and consumed on the ranch, and 7,740 were sold 
for $29,680. There are 14,800 head on hand, worth, at $3 per head, 



5a8 MARVELS OF THE XElf I TEST. 

S44.400. The wool-clips paid for shepherds and all current expenses. 
The result shows a net profit over the original investment of 569,520, 
equal to 193 per cent per annum for eight years in succession. Per 
contra, out of a flock of 1.200 very fine, selected ewes, worth $4 per 
head, 800 died during a storm of two days last March. The 400 that 
survived raised last summer more than that number of lambs. The 
dog is a valuable auxiliary in the care of sheep. The * Scotch collie ' 
surpasses all others in his natural aptitude for this work, and often- 
times one well-trained sells for $150." 

A reliable estimate from Montana shows the attractions of that 
territory for the sheep-raiser : — 

•• Profits on wool-growing are estimated by many as greater than 
on cattle-raising ; and even the more conser^^ative breeders figure a 
profit of from 25 to 35 per cent per annum upon all capital invested, 
and all agree that the wool clip will pay every item of expense, leav- 
ing the increase a clear gain. The loss from all causes is estimated 
at from 2 to 3 per cent. The annual increase of flocks is placed at 
48 per cent, and the increase of i.ooo ewes, 2 years old and up- 
wards, from 80 to 150 per cent, probably averaging 90 per cent. 
Sheep sell readily at from S3 to S3. 50 per head. One herder can 
take care of 2,000 head. Sheep-raising is emphatically the poor 
man's industry in Montana ; for, having a free range, timber at hand 
for construction of sheds and corrals, and, in fact, no capital needed 
for running expenses after the first season, he is master of the situ- 
ation if he can command any sum from S500 upwards for the pur- 
chase of a small flock. 

"A careful calculation of the profit on 1,000 ewes for a term of 5 
vears. made by a prominent sheep-owner, shows the following: — 



First . . 
Second 
Third . 
Fourth 



1.000 700 

1.1 75 S22 
1.555 i.oSS 
2,033 . '.423 



tuts. 


WETHERS. 


cur. 


350 


350 


$1,000 


411 


411 


1.700 


544 


544 


2.5J2 


711 


7U 


3.7'o 



Fifth 


2,660 


1,862 


931 


93^ 


5-032 


Totals .... 




5.895 


2,947 


2.947 


Si 3.964 



Total wool clip >• 3-1^04 

5,895 sheep, at 5j 1 7-^^^5 

30 Merino bucks, at 525 750 

Interest on cash obtained for wool 3.084 

$36,083 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 599 

Investment and Expense. 

i,ooo ewes, at ^3 $3,000 

Cabin, shed, and canvas 800 

32 Merino bucks, at $50 1,600 

Herders' wages and board 2,600 

Taxes and minor expenses 1,000 ll,loo 

Profit ^^24,983 

Another estimate from an official document of Kansas is as fol- 
lows : — ■ 

" The following estimate of the cost of a start in sheep-raising is 
made officially in the reports of the State, and assumes that the 
investor takes personal charge of the place, as a man would be likely 
to do who starts on a capital of $3,500, beginning operations about 
April I, and performing most of the labor necessary to produce the 
crops himself; the purchase of sheep to be made Sept. 15 following, 
by which time preparations for shelter and feed are substantially 
perfected. 

" If the ranchnian desires a larger dwelling than the one provided, 
the land can be bought of the railroad company on 6 years' time, 
at 7 per cent interest, thus reserving a larger portion of cash for 
additional improvements. Or, he could purchase 320 instead of 160 
acres, as estimated, the annual payments on which could be promptly 
met from sales of wool, increase of flock, or grain grown, if an addi- 
tional acreage were put under cultivation. This would, no doubt, be 
a profitable investment, as an increase in value of real estate is not 
improbable. 

Investment. 

160 acres of land, at $2.50 $400.00 

House 300.00 

Corrals loo.oo 

Windmill, pump, and troughs 125.00 

Team, \\agon, and harness 325.00 

f^arming implements 50.00 

500 Merino ewes, at $3 1.500.00 

6 Merino bucks, at $25 150.00 $2,950.00 

Cash ■ 55000 

Total $3,500.00 

"On such an investment a profit of 25 per cent, exclusive of the 
advance in the value of the land, may be counted upon, and a living 
made in the meantime." 



6oo MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

A. S. Eaton, of Russell County, Kansas, says : — 

" A sheep-master can realize from 40 to 70 per cent on his invest- 
ment, according to the care and attention he gives to his flock. 
My sales last year, from a herd of 1,550 sheep, amounted for wool 
and sheep to $6,116.28. My expenses of running the business, in- 
cluding taxes, were $900. I reduced my herd by 250 sheep ; but I 
consider my flock worth as much to-day as one year ago. Yet, de- 
ducting the amount that the 250 wethers were sold for, viz., S750, 
would yet leave 34,366.28, or some 75 per cent on my investment, 
ranch and all included." 

The reader will be interested in the description of a mammoth 
sheep ranch, which, if not exactly embraced in the New West, is 
more nearly related to it than to any other part of the world. 

"The little schooner Santa Rosa arrived in port from Santa Bar- 
bara a few days ago," says the San Francisco Call. " She comes up 
to this city twice a year to secure provisions, clothing, lumber, etc., 
for use on Santa Rosa Island, being owned by the great sheep-raiser, 
A. P. Moore, who owns the island and the 80,000 sheep that exist 
upon it. The island is about 30 miles south of Santa Barbara, 
and is 24 miles in length and 16 in breadth, and contains about 
74,000 acres of land, which are admirably adapted to sheep-raising. 
Last June ]\Ioore clipped 1014 sacks of wool from these sheep, 
each sack containing an average of 410 pounds of wool, making 
a total of 415,740 pounds, which he sold at 27 cents a pound, 
bringing him in $212,349.80, or a clear profit of over 380,000. This 
is said to be a low yield ; so it is evident that sheep-raising there, 
when it is taken into consideration that shearing takes place twice a 
year, and that a profit is made of the sale of mutton, etc., is very 
profitable. The island is divided into four quarters by fences 
running clear across at right angles ; and the sheep have not to 
be herded like those ranging about the foothills. 

" Four men are employed regularly the year round to keep the 
ranch in order and to look after the sheep ; and during shearing 
time fifty or more shearers are employed. These men secure forty 
or fifty days' work ; and the average number of sheep sheared a day 
is about ninety, for which five cents a clip is paid; thus, $4.50 
a day being made by each man, or something over $200 for the 
season, or over S400 for 90 days out of the year. Although the 
shearing of 90 sheep a day is the average, a great many will go 
as high as iio; and one man has been known to shear 125. Of 
course, every man tries to shear as many as he can, and, owing 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 6oi 

to haste, frequently the animals are severely cut by the sharp shears. 
If the wound is serious, the sheep immediately has its throat cut, 
and is turned into mutton and disposed of to the butchers ; and the 
shearer, if in the habit of frequently inflicting such wounds, is dis- 
charged. In the shearing of these 80,000 sheep, a hundred or more 
are injured to such an extent as to necessitate their being killed ; 
but the wool and meat are, of course, turned into profit. 

" Although no herding is necessary, about two hundred or more 
trained goats are kept on the island continually, which to all intents 
and purposes take the place of the shepherd dogs so necessary in 
mountainous districts where sheep are raised. Whenever the ani- 
mals are to be removed from one quarter of the island to another, 
the man in charge takes out with him several of the goats, exclaims 
in Spanish, " Cheva ! " meaning sheep. The goat, through its train- 
ing, understands what is wanted, and immediately runs to the band ; 
and the sheep accept it as their leader, following wherever it goes. 
The goat in turn follows the man to whatever point he wishes to 
take the band. To prevent the sheep from contracting disease, it is 
necessary to give them a washing twice a year. Moore having so 
many on hand, found it necessary to invent some way to accomplish 
this whereby not so much expense would be incurred and time 
wasted. After experimenting for some time, he had a ditch dug 
eight feet in depth, a little over one foot in width, and one hundred 
feet long. In this he put six hundred gallons of water, two hundred 
pounds of sulphur, one hundred pounds of lime, and six pounds of 
soda, all of which is heated to one hundred and thirty degrees. The 
goats lead the sheep into a corral or trap at one end, and the animals 
are compelled to swim through to the further end, thus securing a 
bath and taking their medicine at one and the same time. 

"The owner of the island and sheep, A. P. Moore, a few years 
ago purchased the property from the widow of his deceased brother 
Henry for $600,000. Owing to ill-health, he has rented it to his 
brother Lawrence for $140,000 a year, and soon starts for Boston, 
where he will settle down for the rest of his life. He still retains 
an interest in the Santa Cruz Island ranch, which is about 25 miles 
southeast of Santa Barbara. This island contains about 64,000 
acres, and on it are 25,000 sheep. On Catanna Island, 60 miles east 
of Santa Barbara, are 15,000 sheep. On Clementa Island, 80 miles 
east of that city, are 10,000 sheep. Forty miles west of the same 
city is San Miguel, on which are 2,000 sheep." 

Sheep are raised both for food and clothing. Figures already 



602 



MAJ^l'^LS OF THE NEIV WEST. 




CAPTAIN JACK. 



given show to what 
enormous propor- 
tions the industry 
has grown, with 
plenty of room to 
double, treble, and 
quadruple it. The 
best breeds for rais- 
ing wool are select- 
ed, and these are 
tended with great 
care and study, so 
that improvement 
in breeds and meth- 
ods are marked and 
rapid. One of the most remarkable sheep for yielding wool known to 
herders is represented by the cut above — a ram of peculiar make-up, 
with a fleece of such length and density as to weigh from twenty-two 
to twenty-five pounds. His sire was Captain Jack ; hence the above is 
Captain Jack, Jr. He com- 
bines two leading features 



of staple and density of 
fleece, without the usual 
accompaniment of super- 
fluous oil, and massive 
wrinkles with coarse and 
hairy folds. He weighs 
about a hundred and fifty 
pounds, and is closely 
built to the ground. That 
God made him for useful- 
ness there can be no ques- 
tion ; for he yields as good 
mutton for eating as he 
does wool for weaving int(j 
cloth. 

A great variety of sheep 
are raised in the New 
West, so man)' that we 
shall not attempt to enimi- 




SHEEP SHEARING. 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAfSING. 



603 



erate them here. A variety of breeds from foreign countries adds 
some of the finest to Western flocks. The opinions of shepherds 
differ in respect to the classification of different breeds of sheep, as 
cattlemen differ respecting breeds of cattle. 




BAGGING WOOL FOR TRANSPORTATION. 



Shearing time is a lively season, and sheep-shearers are a unique 
class of men. Some of the California sheep-shearers excel all others 
in the number they will divest of their fleeces in a single day. It is 
claimed that some of them will shear 125 sheep per day, and that 
the average of shearers per day, in disposing of a large flock, is 90. 



604 MARl'ELS OF THE XEIV llEST. 

The price paid for shearing is from four to six cents apiece, aver- 
aging five cents. 

The Union Pacific Railroad has erected extensive sheds for the 
accommodation of wool-growers and their flocks. These sheds are 
erected at convenient stations along the line. Sheep-raisers find it 
more convenient to drive their flocks to the railway station, and 
shear them there, than to shear them at home, and transport the 
wool thither. The plan has proved successful. The sheds are suffi- 
ciently large to accommodate from thirty to one hundred shearers 
at a time. The railway company has also built large corrals in which 
the sheep are folded. Then there are small enclosures for each 
shearer, into which fifteen or twenty sheep can be put. When a 
sheep is sheared the fleece is tied together by the shearer and put 
into a bag hanging down from the loft. Every two feet these bags 
are hanging, and when they are filled, men in the loft draw them 
up, assort, weigh, and ship the wool. 

The illustration represents the method of bagging wool for ship- 
ment. When the shearer has completed his flock, he cries out 
"check," and a man in waiting drives the sheep from the pen, and 
other men soon fill it up again with another flock. 

The sheep are counted after they are sheared. They are driven 
from the pen through a small passage where they are readily counted 
before entering the large corral beyond. The cut opposite repre- 
sents the sheep going through this passage-way to the large enclosure. 

A few years ago, on July 8, at Hugo, Col., twelve thousand sheep 
belonging to the Holt Live Stock Company were sheared, and then 
driven back to the ranch. Twelve thousand in one d.w creates 
a scene scarcely second to a " round-up " for the entertainment of 
spectators ! 

A writer rehearses several incidents that are instructive to readers 
who desire to know somewhat of the sheep business. Speaking of 
the eastern friends at the ranch, he says : — 

" One very hot day they braved the heat themselves for the sake 
of going out on the prairie to see how sheep keep cool. Instead of 
scattering along the creek, seeking singly the shade of the bushes or 
the tall trees only to be found near the creek, they huddle together 
in the middle of the sunny field, more closely than ever, hang their 
heads in the shadow of one another's bodies, and remain motionless 
for hours. Not a single head is to be seen as \()u approach the herd; 
only a broad level field of woolly backs, sujiported by a small forest 
of little legs. 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 



605 



"To see the sheep go in and out, night and morning, was a never- 
faihng amusement. Sometimes the laches wandered down to the 
corrals at sunset to see the herds come in, and you would have sup- 
posed them to be waiting for a Fourth-of-July procession with ban- 
ners, from the eagerness with which they exclaimed, ' Oh, here they 
come ! there they are ! ' as the first faint tinkling of the bells was 
heard in the distance. If two herds appeared at once from opposite 
directions, the one with lambs had the ' right of way,' and Sly, the 
sheep-dog, — not the only commander who has controlled troops by 




COUNTING SHEEP. 



sitting down in front of them, v- would hold the other herd in check 
till the lambs were safely housed. 

"They had arrived just in the midst of lambing, and each herd, as 
it came in at night, would number more than when it went out in the 
morning, the little lambs that had been born on the prairie during 
the day taking their constitutional of two or three miles back to the 
corral that they had never seen, as easily and with as much dignity as 
if they had known all about it for years. At the mature age of three 
or four days, however, some of them would decide that they preferred 



6o6 



MARVELS OF THE XEll' UEST. 



to remain on the open prairie ; then woe to the unhappy herder ! 
Many and many a night would the ladies walk out to meet the herd, 
on the sole chance of seeing the inimitable fun of such a catastrophe. 
For pure, unadulterated amusement, I know of nothing equal to wit- 
nessing the chase of a grown man over a boundless prairie after a lit- 
tle c-^'^'-ve less thnn ?. f'^'->t loner and nr>t more than three davs old. 




THE RuNA.VAY uAWc 



The running of a man for his hat is nothing to the entertainment of 
such a spectator ; the struggles of the driver of a refractor)- mule are 
nothing to the sufferings of such a herder. It is martyrdom without 
any glory, and I believe the lamb is seldom caught or tired out with- 
out the aid of a sheep-dog." 

Sheep-raisers have exhausted their ingenuity in devising the most 
convenient methods for feeding sheep. The following cut is the 
latest invention introduced into the New West : — 



J/.l/yH'/'.LS OF srOCK-R.HSliYG. 



607 



"The diameter of the rack is live and one-hall feet; height, 
four feet nine inches. Twenty-two bars in the outside rat'k ad- 
mit of twenty-one slieep feeding at once. The bars, one and one- 
half inches in chameter, are made to turn easily in the top and 
liottom sockets. There is a space of seven inches between the 
outside and the inside bars ; the latter, thirty-three in number, aie 
four inches apart and a sc[uare inch in size. Within this rank of 
bars is a wooden cone, three feet and nine inches in diameter at tin- 
base, and three feet high. This cone, with the arrangement which 
holds the two ranks of bars at the top of the rack, forms the recepta- 
cle of the forage. A plinth, three inches wide, is attached to the top 
and another to the bottom 
of the rack, outside the exte- 
rior rank of bars, and com- 
pletes the whole. 

" The following are the 
advantages of this rack : be- 
ing circular, each sheep can 
feed without annoying its 
neighbor, and the ewes and 
lambs are thus freed from 
all chance of injury. The 
bars revolving on their sup- 
ports, the shee}) do not rub 
tJK'ir necks in feeding. If 
the rack is ])laced under a 
shoot or trap-dooi", the hay or 
straw can be drojiped into it, 
without falling on the sheejx 

and thereby soiling the wool. If, instead of forage, roots are given 
to the sheep, the bottom of the rack, with its plinth, forms a conven- 
ient receptacle for them." 

The editor of the Joitriial of Ai^riciiltinr, speaking of the habits of 
sheep, says : — 

" Sheep adapt themselves to a wider latitude than any domesti- 
cated animal, except dogs. For more than a thousand years they 
ha\e been raised with profit in Iceland, where the climate is so cold 
that few cultivated crops can be produced. They are also raised with 
profit in all the countries of Europe and Asia that border on the 
North Sea. Sheep raising has lately been undertaken in Patagonia 
with excellent promise of success. South Africa and all the islands 




A NOVEL SHEEP RACK. 



6o8 MAJWELS OF THE A'EW UEST. 

in the Indian Ocean are found to be well adapted to the raising of 
sheep. Spain and Asiatic Turkey have long produced most excellent 
wool, although the climate of these countries is very warm. Sheep 
do well in ever}' State and Territory in this countr)', and are better 
adapted to poor land than any other domesticated animal except the 
goat. There is economy in keeping a few sheep in pastures that are 
chiefly devoted to other animals, for the reason that the former will 
eat many kinds of weeds and grasses that the latter will leave." 

A ^^■o^lA^■ ox a cattle ranch. 

This is a veritable experience received from the lips of the woman 
herself. We do not present it because it is at all exceptional in 
regard to hardships and checkered experiences. Indeed, it is the 
stor}' of one who enjoyed considerable more of privilege and comfort 
than falls to the lot of the average ranch-life. She was young in 
years and in matrimony. Her husband bought out a ranchman in 
the New West, seventy-five miles from the town in which he was 
temporarily sojourning. He was to remove thither to spend about 
eight weeks in putting things in running order, and to establish him- 
self as a cattleman. His wife proposed to accompany him and share 
ranch-life with him for this brief period. 

It was one of the hottest July days ever known in the Xew West 
when she started with her husband and one cowboy for the ranch. 
A long drought had parched the earth, and the streams on the plains 
were dr}', adding intensity to the heat of the day. The burning rays 
of the sun beat down upon the two occupants of the open ranch- 
wagon, and the poor horses wilted under the great heat and a hea\y 
load. Not a drop of water was found on the way until after four 
o'clock in the afternoon. The lips of the weary travellers became 
parched and swollen, and, but for the free use of lemons, which were 
thoughtfully provided in the morning, would have cracked and bled. 
The sight of water about four o'clock gladdened man and beast. 

One or two hours later, on approaching a town where they pur- 
posed to spend the night, the wagon sunk into the mud to the hubs 
of the wheels in crossing an irrigating ditch. The tired horses vainly 
tried to pull it out, until, exhausted, they refused to pull more, and 
the disgusted stockman sat down upon the bank of the ditch, the 
very picture of despairing weariness. 

" Going to stay here all night } " inquired his better half in a tone 
that was a cross between facetiousness and bitter disappointment. 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 609 

" I shall stay here till help comes along," answered the husband. 
Sure enough, within a few minutes, a man with a pair of horses 
appeared upon the scene, and kindly offered to help cnir stockman 
out of his difficulty. The four horses together pulled the wagon out 
of the mud, and on that night our heroine slept upon a soft bed in 
a country inn, instead of under a tent. On the following morning, 
refreshed and happy, and supplied with a keg of water, that the pain- 









"'■ 4;:fi' '>^li\W.. , - 



GOING TO THE RANCH. 

ful experience of the previous day might not be repeated, our trav- 
ellers continued their journey. At noon they came upon an old 
deserted stable in which the horses were fed, and the travellers them- 
selves regaled with an ample lunch. At night they spread a tent, 
and were cooking an inviting supper when a thunder-shower burst 
upon them in great fury, deluging the tent, putting out their fire, 
and spoiling the food, as well as drenching the occupants. Supper- 
less and soaked, they spread their blankets for the night, and lay 
down to wakefulness instead of dreams. However, they came out of 



6lO MARVELS OF THE XEll' UEST. 

the hardship with flying colors, and, before noon on the next day, 
took possession of the ranch, and commenced ranch-life. In a letter 
to a relative, the woman said : — 

" Well, here I am at camp, and like it very much so far. I am 

terrible lonely to-day. G was obliged to go away this morning, 

and will not be back until to-morrow. I am here alone with Mrs. 

's brother ... I had nine and ten in my family the first two 

days ; then four ; last night seven ; and to-day two. The men have 
now gone out on the calf round-up, and will be gone three weeks, 
probably. ... I cannot give you much of an idea of the camp here. 
The house is a good one, and unusually nice for a cow camp. It is 
stQne inside and out, and rough every way ; but we are very com- 
fortable. It stands low down in a gulch, with hills front and back, 
which cut off all views ; and still it is pleasant. We have two large 
rooms, now furnished with chairs, two home-made tables, two home- 
made bedsteads, and empty boxes for additional conveniences. . . . 
The flies here were enough to craze one, but we brought some net- 
ting with us, and C made screens for the doors and windows, so 

that we are protected from their raids. . . . We have cows, ducks, 
hens, a dog nearly as large as Major, and a nice cat. ... I have not 
made any butter yet, but shall very soon, for I miss it fearfully. I 
have been cooking, cleaning, and arranging things generally, but 
shall have more leisure soon, as my family will be smaller. One of 
the men helps me. He cooks for the boys on the round-up, and 
between helps me. I do all the cooking except the meat. The men 
appear to think that my bread and pies were made to eat. I made a 
large loaf of brown bread for supper last night, and the boys just 

devoured it. Don't worry about my staying alone, for G says 

he will never leave me without C , who is trusty, and is hired to 

work about the house, milk, and do chores. Crazy [the name of her 
pony] knew me when I came, and behaved as cunning as ever. I 
shall begin riding her soon. I would not part with her for love nor 
money. ... If you do not hear from me every week, don't worry, 
for something may happen to prevent us going to the post-office, 
which is twenty-five miles distant. But you must write every week 
as usual, for it would be disappointing indeed to send so far for let- 
ters and find none. We send to the office once in two weeks sure, 
and as much oftener as we can. I have nothing further to say, ex- 
cept that I am getting along all right — have four in my family now, 
and one of the boys helps me in the house. All of them are kind 
and obliging, and never allow me to bring a pail of water from the 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 



6i: 



spring." Of course, she could not complain much of great hard- 
ships. 

The spring was one of the finest in all the New West, with a 
house over it, and a small pond behind it, into which, at times, the 
overflow empties. There was a barn, shed, and henhouse, also, with 
two corrals. A tent was also spread on the grounds to accommodate 
the overflow of cowboys and visitors at night. As the hospitality of 






JT^; 



1^^^? 



that country provided free beds and board for transient comers, a 
tent arrangement was absolutely necessary. From three to twelve 
transient lodgers was often the quota for whom provision was made. 

"I have cooked three dinners in a day," she said to the writer; 
"the first for the family ; the second, one or two hours later, for two 
newcomers ; and I had scarcely washed the dishes after the second 
dinner, when a fresh arrival of another man made a third dinner 
necessary." 



6l2 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

Ham, codfish, fresh beef and veal, venison, poultry, antelope, and 
rabbits, supplied the larder with a variety of meats that would be 
luxurious in the East, — not all at the same time, of course, but as 
circumstances favored. Sometimes the bill of fare was reduced to 
ham or codfish without potatoes or any other vegetable. As it was 
the ranchman's first season, begun in July, he had no garden, and 
therefore no vegetables, except when they were purchased at the 
nearest market, from forty to sixty miles away. Sometimes, how- 
ever, a neighboring ranchman, coming that way, would bring them a 
welcome present from his garden. Tea and coffee, especially the 
latter, were prominent in the daily bill of fare. 

The nearest neighbors (all of the masculine gender) were eighteen 
miles distant, and the nearest woman thirty miles away. Of the 
latter our heroine wrote to a friend, " There are several women at 

'—, but I think they must be stuck-up, for they have not called 

upon me yet, and they are only thirty miles from here." 

The following extracts from her letters to a relative will furnish 
still more interesting information of a woman's life on a ranch : — 

" The round-up reached here on Saturday, and we have been full 
ever since, — nine all the time, and twelve last night in my family. 

" G is going away again this week. He is going to , two 

hundred miles distant, to buy horses. I expect he will be gone ten 
days, perhaps longer. I dread it very much. There will be two men 
here, but it will be lonely enough even then. 

"I climbed the Buttes last week. They are over a hundred feet 
high, made of clay or adobe, the top being petrified like stone. 

G would not go with me, as he thought it was too hazardous. 

In one place we had to pass round a curve for fifteen feet on a shelf 
just wide enough to stand upon. At another point we had to climb 
up perpendicularly fifteen feet, by means of notches cut for the feet. 
One of the men went with me because G would nut. lsl\ cour- 
age nearly failed me before the feat was accomplished, but the splen- 
did view from the summit paid me. 

"The men kill many rattlesnakes here. They killed twelve in 
one day. At another time they killed three in half an hour. VA. and 
I were riding one day last week, and his horse stepped on one that 
was coiled up. It threw the snake over, and he went into his hole 
in a hurry. Our dog was bitten by one a few days ago, and his nose 
was badly swollen for a day or two, and that was all. Rattlesnake 
bites do not injure dogs. 

"We do not have fresh meat at all just now, and ham is getting 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 



613 



stale to me. Eel. has just killed a duck, and we shall have that to- 
morrow. I am sick of making biscuit. I had them three times a 
day, and from twenty to thirty each time. 

" I have a plenty of eggs and milk, and make puddings and 
custards. I shall wash 
to-morrow; Ed. will f 
help me, and then wash 
for the boys, and he 
will help me iron. He 
is very handy and very 
willing. We miss veg- 
etables very much. I 
would like a cucumber. 
We had a scjuash to-day 
that some one of the 
boys bought me, and it 
was nice. We have not 
even potatoes now, and 
I scarcely know how 
fruit looks. 

" We had fourteen 
letters in the last mail, 
and you may be sure 
that we enjoyed them. 
Last night Ed. was 
taken sick, fortunately 
after I had retired, and 
he had a terrible fit. I 
could hear him talk 
as crazy as could be, 
and it was an hour be- 
fore he was conscious. 
He came near having 
another this morning, 
but we worked over 
him and prevented it. 

C takes care of him, and I have not been alone with him at 

all. I hope G will not have to go away again, but I sometimes 

think if he does I go too, wherever it may be. . . . Two of the men 

usually sleep in the house, — one on the bed G made, and the 

other on the floor; the others sleep in the tent, which they prefer." 




CLIMBING THE BUTTE. 



6 14 MARVELS OF THE AEW WEST. 

The "Ed." referred to had a thrilHng history. His father was the 
proprietor of a leading daily journal in a large city of the East, — a 
man of wealth and position. His mother, before her marriage, was a 
professor in a leading college for females, — an accomplished woman. 
Their son had received an excellent education, and was familiar with 
the refinement and style of wealthy families in a large city ; but now 
he was a cowboy, subject to terrible fits, which he claimed were 
brought on "by smoking cigarettes." His employer and wife had 
no doubt that the drink-curse was the real cause of his absence from 
home. As there were no liejuors on the ranch, and no place to obtain 
them for miles, their views on the subject were not verified beyond 
contradiction. But on the evening of his sickness, as rehearsed 
above, he went to Mrs. and said : — 

" I am going to smoke a cigarette, and I shall have a lit after it. 
You had better retire." 

Scarcely thinking that he was in earnest, with a facetious remark 
she bade him good night and went to bed. Then followed what she 
described, in which we see some evidence that cigarettes were the 
cause of his fits, or dcliriuvi tremens, if that be a more appropriate 
name. In her next letter she relates the outcome of Ed.'s sickness. 

" I closed my last letter rather hurriedly. Ed. grew worse steadily. 

The night before G came he had a terrible spell. Twice we 

thought he was dying. It took C and I to hold him on the bed. 

The night G reached home he had two fits. Two men could 

scarcely hold him while he was in the first one ; but his strength was 
greatly reduced when the last one occurred. He suffered fearfully, 
but imagined that he was in heaven with his mother, who died when 
he was too young to remember her. The next day he was so weak 
that two men were obliged to lift him into the wagon, and he went 
off crying as if his heart would break. We made him a bed in the 

wagon, and sent him to , and from there by rail to . C 

went with him, and has not yet returned. We hardly thought he 
would reach there alive ; but the man who came back with the team 

said that he was better when he reached ; so v*^e hope he will 

come out all right." 

Just seven years after the foregoing was written, in rejDly to the 
question, "What became of I^d..^" this woman answered : — 

" Poor fellow ! we don't know. He recovered by good medical 

treatment, and left , and we have never seen or heard from him 

since." 

It is not strange that, by this time, Mrs. should write to a 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 615 

friend, "Certainly I have variety enough in my life to keep from 
becoming stagnant." 

More extracts from her letters will afford the reader still more 
light. 

"We have a very nice cooking-stove, as large as. the one in your 
winter kitchen. I have made all my bread so far with baking-powder. 
I should think you were crazy to ask what I do with my washing. 
Why, I wash it, iron it, wear it, and wash it again. I have every 
convenience for washing, and do not lift a pail of water, or turn the 
wringer, or clean up. We have splendid water under the spring- 
house, and a half dozen other good springs around us where the 
cattle drink, and water-holes also. My kitchen is large, and I have 
no trouble in providing for all the men by putting the two tables 

together. There is no need of furnishing napkins, for G and I 

and Ed. are the only ones of the crowd who ever saw one. I made 
four cream pies and a cocoanut pie yesterday, and how quickly they 
vanished before the hungry boys ! 

" I must stop at once, for I hear a wagon ride up. ... It was 

two men, one from , whom I was delighted to see. He brought 

me a bushel of potatoes and a parcel of beets and radishes, and I am 
eating a radish now. They are so nice ! I got them a dinner, — 
hot biscuit, venison steak, tomatoes, cream pie, and coffee. They 
thought they would call again when they got hungry. 

" I rode ten miles one day last week, and saw three*deer, — scared 

them up not ten feet off. We sent C out next morning to shoot 

one, as we were living on bacon and codfish, with no potatoes. He 
killed one, and we have feasted ever since. It is very nice eating. 
The venison we get is not what you get in the East. 

" We have any amount of fleas here, and I am half eaten up by 
them. We have ants, also, but I brought some borax with me, and 
they have disappeared before it. You ask me what I wear. I wear 
a shade hat, black Canton, with blue veil on it when I ride, and my 
scalp at other times. 

"We have dug a cellar, or, what is here called a 'dug-out,' in the 
side of the hill, which will have a roof over it soon, covered with dirt. 
It is what they call a cellar here." 

When lodgings were somewhat crowded, one of the men slept in 
the above-mentioned dug-out. One night, just before the mistress 
of the ranch had retired, he came rushing into the house for his gun, 
shouting " Skunk ! skunk ! " This disagreeable animal was at home 
in that country, and, in his peregrinations, on that night, ('ropped 



6l6 MARVELS OF THE NEW I VEST. 

into the dug-out, with no expectation of meeting a cowboy there. 
But he did, and actually travelled across his bed, startling the human 
occupant of the place by his cool impudence. The skunk was as 
much alarmed as the cowboy in the end, and fled to parts unknown 
before the latter returned with his gun. Seventy skunks were shot 
about the ranch from August to November, proving that this unpop- 
ular creature thrives full as well in the New West as he does in 
the East. 

Once, during her stay at the ranch, Mrs. visited with 

her husband, nearly sixty miles away, to make some purchases, and 
hire a tenement. She camped out one night each way, going and 
coming, and enjoyed it hugely. On the way back, she discovered an 
antelope at a distance ; whereupon her husband let drive his six- 
shooter just to see the wild creature run. He was too far away to be 
hit, but not too far to be scared, the ranchman thought. What was 

the surprise of Mrs. , and her liege lord, too, to see the animal 

drop, and not run. Singularly enough the ball took effect in the ante- 
lope's head, and he gave up the ghost. It was an accident, however, 
not the skill of the ranchman. The former was not more surprised 
to be hit than the latter was to be the hitter. The wild game was 
carried in triumph to the ranch, where hunger revelled on his carcass. 

Here are incidents sufificient to show the reader what the best sort 
of ranch-life is to an intelligent woman. It is crowded with variety, 
the unexpected, and the marvellous. 

CATTLE KINGS. 

We shall close this department with the photographs and brief 
biographical sketches of seven cattle kings, as in the third and fourth 
departments we presented railroad and mining kings. While our 
space limits us to seven successful and widely-known cattlemen, we 
may say that their number is very large in the New West. Intelli- 
gent, enterprising, and i)crsistent, they have hewed their way through 
all opposition and difificultics to wealth and influence. It has been a 
hard-fought battle to most of them, Inil their victories are all the 
grander for that. 

JOHN H. ILIFF. 

John H. Iliff was born Dec. i8, 183 i, the son of a well-to-do farmer 
near Zanesville, O. He attended college at Delaware, O., after which 
his father offered to invest seven thousand five hundred dollars in a 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 617 

farm for him, near his own, if the young man would remain upon it. 
But the son declined the offer, saying, " No, give me the five hundred 
dollars and let me go West." Going to Kansas, he remained three 
years. Here the Pike's Peak gold excitement of 1859 found him, 
and he was among the first to cross the Plains to the new Eldorado. 
Realizing that the army of gold-seekers must be fed, he invested all 
his means in a stock of groceries and provisions, for which he found 
a ready market upon his arrival in Colorado. He engaged in business 
in Denver for a short time, but invested all he had in a small herd of 
cattle. This herd he drove to the northern part of the Territory for 
pasturage. The Union Pacific Railroad was being pushed westward 
through southern Wyoming with all possible dispatch, and at Chey- 
enne Mr. Iliff found so excellent a market that his herd of cattle 
proved better than a gold mine. He found a vast stretch of country 
reaching from the South Platte River to Wyoming, and from near the 
eastern base of the Rocky Mountains to Nebraska — a region larger 
than Massachusetts — occupied only by buffalo and antelope. His 
mind quickly grasped the possibilities of the situation. From this 
time on his course was one of steady and rapid progress. He made 
the cattle business on the plains a study, giving to it his entire atten- 
tion and his best efforts. He mastered every detail, and as the busi- 
ness developed new phases he was equal for every emergency. The 
influence of his life upon the pastoral interests of Colorado and the 
West cannot be overestimated. At the time of his death he owned 
about twenty thousand acres of pasturage, including some of the finest 
watering-places and grazing-valleys in the region where his herds 
roamed. These herds numbered not less than fifty thousand head, 
from which he marketed an average of about thirteen thousand head 
per year. No single individual has ever built up or controlled so vast 
a business in live-stock in this Rocky Mountain country. He was 
temperate in his habits, loving and true to his family, honest and just 
in his dealings, a desirable neighbor, and a most useful citizen. 



JARED L. BRUSH. 

J. L. Brush was born in Claremont County, O., in 1837, so that 
he is now just fifty years of age, though he is so hale, hearty, and vig- 
orous that he appears much younger. His parents were in comforta- 
ble circumstances, and afforded their son the best opportunity for 
intellectual training which the schools of that day and locality pro- 
vided. Being a thoughtful, obedient youth, willing to work and apt 



6l8 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

to do, he contented himself with remaining at home, working" upon 
the farm, and doing whatever else seemed to be necessary. 

He was twenty-two years of age when the discovery of gold in 
Colorado created intense excitement all over the country. In com- 
mon with thousands of young men, he caught the excitement, though 
his decision did not wholly contemplate mining. He believed that 
the Rocky Mountain region was opening a wide and inviting field for 
aspiring young men in various departments of activity. After care- 
ful thought and investigation he decided to "go West," and 1859 
found him a citizen of what is now the " Centennial State." 

At first he engaged in mining, and was the first discoverer of gold 
in Russell Gulch. His success, however, was not particularly stimu- 
lating, though his search for gold was by no means a failure. After 
mining two years, he purchased a farm and run it, at the same time 
making two freighting trips annually over the " plains," from Mis- 
souri River to Denver. For five years he continued farming and 
freighting, hauling hay in the winters to the mountain mining-camps 
for sale. He began, also, at this period, to deal in cattle, and made 
his first purchases along the Missouri River. He commenced the 
cattle business in a small way, but gradually enlarged his trade, until 
now his own herd numbers three thousand, and he has a partnership 
in sixteen thousand more. His ranches are located in the southeast- 
ern part of Weld County, Col. He removed to that county in 1862, 
and has lived there ever since, his business growing upon his hands 
from year to year. 

In the autumn of 1883, Mr. Brush said to the author, " Less than 
twenty-five years ago I drove a freight team over the plains." The 
remark was made to show the marvellous enterprise and progress 
which a quarter of a century had wrought. It required a good share 
of pluck to carry freight over the "plains " at that time ; for Indians 
were on the alert with tomahawk and scalping-knife. The United 
States government was under the necessity of maintaining regiments 
of soldiers in that region to save freighters and others from Indian 
massacre. Mr. Brush had the usual experience of pioneers with the 
Rocky Mountain red men, escaping with his life only because provi- 
dential events favored him. Even later, in 1867, when he was en- 
gaged in the cattle business, and had a ranch only fourteen miles 
from the spot where Greeley was laid out three years thereafter, the 
savages made a raid upon his ranch, and killed twelve men, one of 
whom was his brother. Mr. Brush was absent at the time ; had he 
been at home, he must have shared the fate of his cattlemen ; and 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 619 

we should not have had the privilege of adding his portrait or sketch 
of his life to our collection. 

Mr. Brush is known as a wise, sagacious business man, the arti- 
ficer of his own fortune, honest, reliable, and influential. He "is 
deeply interested in the welfare of his adopted State, and has repre- 
sented Weld County several times in the Legislature. He resides at 
Greeley, where he is respected by all who know him, for his business 
ability and uprightness of character. For thirty years his life has 
been a checkered one, necessarily involving many hardships and 
struggles ; but his industry, tact, perseverance, and honesty have 
won for him success, and with it the public confidence. 



CHARLES LUX. 

Charles Lux was one of the most eminent citizens of California, 
at the time of his death, a few months ago. He was born in Ger- 
many, in 1823, and came to this country when he was fifteen years 
of age. He cast his lot in New York City, where he became a 
butcher-boy, and worked early and late and hard, and laid up money. 
The gold excitement lured him to California in 1850, and he settled 
in San Francisco, where he continued to work in the butcher's busi- 
ness for one Captain North. From this time, his biographer in the 
San Francisco Chronicle shall describe his career : — 

"To him (North) young Lux proved a treasure. He was inde- 
fatigable, never seemed to need sleep, never forgot anything, never 
was in a bad temper. 

" They worked together for about a year ; then the cajotain, who 
shared the roving disposition of most Californians of that day, pro- 
posed to sell out to his assistant, and the offer was accepted. The 
butcher's sign was changed to Charles Lux, and for several years he 
carried on business there, making money and friends. About 1854 
or 1855 he took into partnership a man named Edmundson, who is 
still alive. They embarked in the wholesale cattle business in a 
small way and did well. After a year or two, for some reason or 
other, the partnership was dissolved. 

"It was in 1857 that he made his first joint operations with Mr. 
Miller. They proved profitable, and the two men grew to be inti- 
mate. Striking contrasts in many respects, they were alike in many 
essentials. Both were men of sturdy integrity, close habits of busi- 
ness, and that power of concentration which secures fortune, when 
more showy gifts, dispersed over a wider range, might fail to obtain 



620 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

it. Both were Germans. Mr. Miller was born in Gutenburg. In 
1858 they formed a partnership under the name of Miller & Lux, 
which lasted till death dissolved it last week, and during which not 
one shadow ever darkened the brightness of their friendship. In the 
previous year a still more momentous change had occurred in Mr. 
Lux's life. A few years previously a gentleman named Potter was 
blown up and killed by an explosion on board the San Rafael boat. 
He left a widow and son. The lady, whose early beauty is still 
remembered, and the loveliness of whose character is known to all 
who have the privilege of her acquaintance, consented in 1857 to ac- 
cept Mr. Lux's addresses, and they were married. It was a happy 
marriage for him. His wife, a Rhode Islander, and a member of the 
Presbyterian church, made his home bright ; and nothing pleased him 
better than to place his purse at her disposal for use in the benevo- 
lent works in which she has been perseveringly engaged for thirty 
years. There is hardly a charitable body in the city of which she is 
not one of the trustees or patronesses ; hardly one that is unacquainted 
with Mr. Lux's checks. 

"The first important purchase which they made was part of the 
Santa Rita ranch in Merced. This was bought in 1863 of Dunphy 
& Hildred ; the amount of land was two Spanish leagues, eight 
thousand eight hundred and eighteen acres. As the firm's stock of 
cattle increased, and as neighbors desired to sell, Miller & Lux, who 
always kept ready money on hand, bought field after field and ranch 
after ranch, until now the property covers the enormous area of six 
hundred thousand acres, — a principality. 

" About the same time Miller & Lux bought two adjoining ranches, 
known as the Dequisquito ranch, and the La Marias Muertes ranch, — 
the one in Monterey, the other in Santa Clara. These were two old 
Spanish grants, and embraced an area of about twenty-four thousand 
acres. 

"The next purchase made was the Canada de San Lorenzo, in the 
extreme southern portion of Monterey County. This property is 
familiarly known as the Peach Tree ranch. Since the first purchase, 
Miller & Lux have added to it as occasion offered, and it now covers 
thirt\--five thousand acres. 

" It was in 1869 that Miller & Lux began the purchases of land in 
Kern and Tulare counties. The jKirchases have been followed up by 
additions ever since, so that now the Kern-Tulare ranch belonging to 
the firm covers one hundred and fourteen thousand acres. 

"These are only some of the lands owned by the firm in this State. 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 62 1 

They do not include such properties as Mr. Charles Lux's private 
ranch of two thousand acres in San Mateo County, or other pieces of 
land in other counties. Outside of the State Miller & Lux own the 
Glenn ranch in Humboldt and Washoe counties — a tract of twenty- 
five thousand acres, on which they have a pretty bunch of cattle. 
This was bought as long ago as 1860-64. They also bought, in asso- 
ciation with a cattleman named Oberfeldt, a tract of twenty-five thou- 
sand acres, or thereabouts, in Baker and Grant counties, Oregon. 
This controls a vast amount of range, and feeds many thousand cattle. 

" These purchased lands do not include the leased lands, which 
cover a large area. The firm pays not less than $20,000 a year for 
lands which it uses for pasture; one man alone receives $14,000 a 
year from this source. 

" Turning now to the use to which this enormous landed estate is 
put, it is found that Miller & Lux own more cattle than any one else 
on this coast, and probably more than Hunter & Evans of St. Louis. 
No large cattle-dealer can tell how many horned cattle or sheep he 
owns. He can only form an approximate estimate. Thus, Miller & 
Lux have been in the habit of reckoning that they owned 60,000 to 
75,000 cattle, about 80,000 sheep, 6,000 to 8,000 hogs, and 'several ' 
thousand horses. To take care of these the services of 800 to 1,000 
men are permanently required. 

"The cattle are brought into the city — a few are sold to country 
towns — at the rate of about 1,600 a month, and slaughtered here in 
the three slaughter-houses owned by the firm in Butchertown. Be- 
sides steers. Miller & Lux kill 6,000 or 7,000 sheep a month, and 
about 2,000 hogs. Thus they supply, to feed this city, an average of 
52 steers, 200 sheep, and 70 hogs daily. 

" It need hardly be said that, with such a business, Mr. Charles 
Lux died rich. It is very difficult to estimate the value of an es- 
tate so large and so widely scattered as his. To administer it suc- 
cessfully requires a great deal of work. There are few men with 
large amounts of money who are willing to put in the work necessary 
to conduct such a business. If it were realized gradually, as occasion 
offered, it would probably be found to be worth something between 
four and five millions. 

" Mr. Lux was always in a good temper, always smiling, with a 
pleasant word for every one, and his serenity went below the surface. 
He never broke up a butcher because he could not pay ; but, on the 
contrary, he invariably kept on supplying tradesmen whom he knew 
to be insolvent, and when he felt reasonably certain that he would 



622 MARTJiLS OF THE XEW WEST. 

never get paid. He was al\va)'s on the lookout to help somebody. 
To the members of his own family in New York and (icrmany, and 
to the relatives of his wife, he ever acted the part of a generous, 
whole-souled father." 

R. G. HEAD. 

R. G. Head was born in Saline County, Missouri, in 1847, "^"^^ i^ 
now in his fortieth year. When six years old his father moved from 
Missouri to Caldwell County, Texas. When thirteen years of age 
young Head entered the employ of Bullard & McPhctridge, drovers, 
who were preparing to move a herd of cattle to Missouri, receiving 
thirteen dollars per month salary. The breaking out of the war pre- 
vented the drive, and the herd was disposed of to the Confederate 
government. Between the age of eleven and thirteen he received 
the benefit of some nine months' attendance at the public schools, 
which is the sum total of educational advantages enjoyed by him. He 
remained on his father's farm, or ranch, until about sixteen years old, 
when he entered the Confederate service, and served until the close 
of the war. Returning home, he worked one year ui)on a farm and 
then entered upon the remarkably successful career which brought 
him to the position he now holds among the stockmen of our country. 
He was not quite nineteen years old when he entered the service of 
Col. John J. Myers, the pioneer drover of Texas, who drove the first 
herds to Abilene, Kansas, which place was then a mere post, con- 
taining but half a dozen habitations. Mr. Head camped a herd of 
cattle on the spot where the city of Wichita, Kansas, now stands, 
when not a white man resided there, but as many Indians as there 
are now white inhabitants. He began his service with Colonel Myers 
on a salary of $30 dollars per month, which was steadily advanced 
until the third year, when he took entire control of his employer's trail 
business at a salary of $1,800 per year and expenses. He continued 
with Colonel Myers for seven years, during which time he drove herds 
to Abilene, Wichita, Great Bend, Ellsworth, and Dodge City, Kansas ; 
and also to Cheyenne, Wyoming, Salt Lake, Utah, the Humbolt River 
in Nevada, and across to California, also to the various Indian agen- 
cies on the upper Missouri River and Black Hills cmuitry. His 
business relations with Colonel Myers were terminated in 1873 by the 
death of the latter gentleman. In 1875 he assumed the general 
management of the extensive cattle business of Ellison, Deweese, & 
Bishop, of San Antonio, Texas, handling from 30,000 to 50,000 cattle 
annually. In the spring of 1878 the last-named firm dissol\-ed, and 



i>^^#=^>.-^^ 




-^n^"^ T Lytl. jfjE^ 



CATTLE KINGS. 



624 MARi-ELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

Mr. Head formed a partnership with i\Ir. Bishop, member of the old 
firm above, lor the handhng of eattle on the ranch and trail. The 
firm of Bishop & Head existed until 1883, when the prevailing high 
prices induced Mr. Head to insist upon a sale of the partnership prop- 
erty, which was accomplished over the friendly protest of Mr. Bishop. 
In May, 1883, he accepted the management of the business of the 
Prairie Cattle Company, the largest company of the kind in the world. 

He filled this position for three years, during which time he mar- 
keted from the ranches of the company over 54,000 cattle, netting 
over $1,300,000, and branded for the company, from its herds, more 
than 83,000 calves, and after paying all expenses, interest on deben- 
ture bonds, and also paying dividends to its stockholders amounting in 
three years to forty two per cent of the capital invested, left the com- 
pany with some 5,000 more cattle than when he assumed the manage- 
ment of its business, and an undivided surplus of about $80,000. 
His salary for his service with tliis company was $20,000 per annum. 
When he severed his connection with the Prairie Cattle Company, its 
employees presented him with a solid silver service, costing $1,500. 

In 1886 he was elected president of the International Range Asso- 
ciation, representing the live stock industry of the Plains, from the 
Gulf of Mexico to British Columbia, and west to the Pacific Coast. 
He was re-elected unanimously to the same position in 1887. He 
was one of the original promoters of the recently formed American 
•Cattle Trust, and now resides in Denver, Colorado, and is the gen- 
eral manager of the entire ranching interests of that association. 
He is one of the principal owners in the Phoenix Farm & Ranch 
Company, of Mora County, New Merico, which is perhaps one of the 
most desirable and productive, as also the most systematically con- 
ducted, properties in that Territory, if not in the entire West. 

Mr. Head is also a large stockholder in the Fort Stockton Live- 
Stock & Land Company, of Texas, comprising 50,000 acres of land, 
20,000 of which are under irrigation. The company owns 30,000 
cattle and 500 horses. He also owns a farm of above 700 acres, in a 
high state of cultivation, at his old home, in Caldwell County, Texas. 

Mr. Head is married and is the father of two daughters, to whose 
comfort and happiness, with that of their beloved mother, he is a most 
devoted husband and father. A busier and more successful life bi- 
ographers are not permitted to chronicle, nor one that is nobler and 
purer. 



AIAR\-ELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 625 



THOMAS H. LAWRENCE. 



Thomas H. Lavvrtnce was born at Circlcville, Ohio, in 1851. 
Having obtained the education offered by the common schools, he 
accepted a clerical position in New York City, and later a position 
of the same kind in St. Louis, Mo. In 1868 he went to West Texas, 
where he began the career which brought him into prominence as one 
of the most intelligent and successful cattlemen of the Plains. After 
four years of cowboy life, Mr. Lawrence moved a herd by trail to 
Ellsworth, Kansas, and the following year made his second drive, 
this time to Nebraska. 

In the fall of 1873 he formed a partnership with Wm. C. Irwine, 
and with him established a cattle ranch near Ogallala, on the South 
Platte River, in Nebraska, where they placed 800 cattle. This part- 
nership was terminated at the expiration of twc^ years, when Mr. 
Lawrence joined Messrs. J. H. and G. M. Bosler, under the firm 
name of Bosler Bros. & Lawrence. They operated a large ranch 
on the North Platte, and continued in business until 1883, when Mr. 
Lawrence sold out to his partners. He then removed to New Mex- 
ico, where he assumed the management of the Dubuque Cattle Com- 
pany, in which he is a large owner, and still retains the management. 
The esteem in which Mr. Lawrence is held by his brother-stockmen 
is evidenced by the fact that he has been chairman of the executive 
committee of the Northern New Mexico Stock-Growers' Association 
since 1883. He is also one of the owners of the Phoenix Farm 
and Ranch, of Mora County, New Mexico, — the most valuable, 
and extensive combined farm and ranch in the Territory. It is 
stocked with 9,000 head of cattle, has 18,000 acres of pasture lands 
enclosed, and several thousand acres under irrigation and tillage. 
Mr. Lawrence is married, has two children, and his home at Las 
Vegas, New Mexico, is that of a gentleman. 

JOHN W. SNYDER. 

Mr. Snyder was born in Yazoo County, Mississippi, June 21, 
1837. He was scarcely three years old when his father died ; but 
he was left in the care of a pious, loving mother, who was obliged to 
move, first to Arkansas, and then to Missouri, in order to feed and 
clothe her children. She was brave and true, and John and his 
brothers were ditto. Hard work and rigid economy kept the wolf of 
hunger at bay, but left very small opportunities for schooling. John 



626 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

received about one year of poor log-house schooling up to nineteen 
years of age. 

At nineteen, John and Dudley borrowed money enough to buy a 
team and load of apples, which they carried to Austin, Texas, six 
hundred miles, and sold at a good profit. They remained in Texas 
two years, farming with fair success, then began to drive horses to 
Missouri for sale, and take back apples to Texas, where they soon 
removed their mother and settled. 

In 1 86 1, John was worth one thousand and six hundred dollars, 
and he resolved to attend school. But a few months only elapsed 
when the late civil war broke out, and he enlisted as a private, but 
was soon promoted to second lieutenant, and then captain. He and 
his two brothers were among the three hundred volunteers, who, on 
board two small steamers, attacked the Harriet Lane in Galveston 
harbor, captured that man-of-war, and retook the city. Later, in 
Louisiana, under General Banks, his horse was shot under him. 

Soon after returning from the war, he and his two brothers, Dudley 
and Thomas, began the cattle trade in company, and this grew upon 
their hands until it became enormous, and the " Snydc Brothers" 
became known, not only in Texas, but throughout the New West, for 
wealth, enterprise, and integrity of character. They fought the Indians, 
hard times, and mighty obstacles in hewing their way to success. 

When Mr. Iliff died, J. W. Snyder & Co. were under contract to 
deliver 25,000 cattle at his ranch in Colorado. Mrs. Iliff, familiar 
with their enterprise and integrity, besought them to take charge of 
the immense herd which her husband left, and in April, 1878, J. W. 
Snyder assumed that responsibility, and the first year shipped 14,053 
beeves for her to market. In the spring of 1881 they purchased the 
immense Iliff herd, Mrs. Iliff retaining an interest in the business. 
On Jan. i, 1887, J. W. Snyder & Co. owned 30,000 cattle, 275 horses, 
and 20,000 acres of land in Colorado; and 17,000 cattle, 750 horses 
and 2 1 8,000 acres of land in Texas. 

Mr. Snyder married in March, 1867, and to-day has an interesting 
family ; and he is never so happy as when he is in their society. He 
is a consistent and active member of the Methodist Church. It is a 
common remark that the Snyders believe in carrying religion into 
their business. They enforce rigid regulations among their cowboys 
against swearing, drinking, gambling, and Sabbath-breaking. They 
give away large sums of money, l^^vidently they act on Wesley's 
rule, — "make all you can, save all you can, and give all you can." 
A friend says of John W. : — 



MARVELS OF STOCK-RAISING. 627 

His life is gentle, and the elements 

So mixed in him, that nature might stand up 

And say to all the world, 

This is a man." 



JOHN T. LYTLE. 

The subject of this sketch was born in Adams County, Pennsyl- 
vania, in October, 1844. After acquiring the Hmitecl advantages of 
the public schools of his native State, young Lytle began the battle 
of life by going to the vicinity of San Antonio, Texas, where he 
obtained employment as a cowboy in the spring of i860. After two 
years' experience he assumed the management of a ranch, but after 
one year in this position he gave up his peaceful vocation to take part 
in the war between the States. He enlisted in Company H, Colonel 
Wood's regiment, Texas cavalry, and served in Louisiana and Texas, 
until the close of the struggle. He returned to the ranch he had left 
to become a soldier, and managed it for three years, when he began 
business for himself, with a few cattle in Frio County, Texas. In 
1871 he took the trail with one thousand head of cattle, for his first 
northern drive. Meeting with success, he was encouraged to follow 
up the business each succeeding year with largely increasing num- 
bers, until 1878, when he drove twenty thousand head. During these 
years the herds were accompanied by him, but from 1879 to 1885 
inclusive, while he moved thirty-five thousand cattle north annually, 
he did not take the trail in person. From 1871 to 1885 inclusive, 
Captain Lytle moved over three hundred thousand cattle from Texas 
to the North. In 1878 Captain Lytle added the sheep industry to 
his already large live-stock interests, and his firm has held an average 
of about forty-five thousand sheep from that date to the present. 

Captain Lytle is also one of the largest landed proprietors in the 
country, being joint proprietor in four large ranches in Texas. The 
one where he makes his home is at Lytle, Medina County, and con- 
tains 20,000 acres, all enclosed, improved, and stocked with blooded 
cattle. A ranch in Frio County, 40,000 acres, is also fenced and 
stocked with cattle. One in Maverick County, on the Rio Grande, 
contains 50,000 acres of patented land, and 350,000 acres of leased 
lands. The latter is principally devoted to sheep and wool growing, 
although 16,000 head of cattle are kept there. Captain Lytle also 
owns with Mr. Schriner a ranch in Mason County, Texas, of 40,000 
acres of patented land, all under fence and stocked with cattle. He is 
one of the most approachable of men, and a general favorite. He 
resides at Lytle, Texas, and is a widower with two children. 



VI. MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



WHO has not heard of the cornfields of Kansas and the wheat- 
fields of Dakota? Not that all the mammoth fields of corn 
and wheat are found in these localities ; for the New West, clear to 
the Pacific coast, challenges the world to survey its empire of golden 
grain. Contrary to the expectations of a quarter of a century ago, 
the States and Territories along the Missouri, and beyond, yield mar- 
vellous harvests. Daniel Webster said that wheat could never be 
produced in paying cjuantities in California. For years, the reports 
of remarkable harvests in that distant portion of our country were 
not believed in the East. Thirty and sixty bushels of wheat, and 
seventy-five of corn, to the acre, was simply a "Western lie." East- 
ern farmers, accustomed to raise a few acres of grain, — five, ten, 
perhaps twenty acres, — contemptuously sneered at the newspaper 
report of ten thousand acres of corn and wheat on a single farm. 
"The spring is too short for so much planting and sowing." 
" Couldn't gather half of it in the autumn months." "Couldn't sell 
so much for ten cents a bushel." " Speculators get up these stories." 
"Tell it to the marines." The reports were too big for belief. Sto- 
ries of half the size, though expressing only half the truth, might 
have been accepted. The delighted Irishman, who askctl his em- 
ployer to write a letter for him to his old father in Ireland, said : — 

"Write him that I have meat to eat once a day." 

"Why, Pat; you have meat three times a day," rej^lied his em- 
ployer, "and why write that you have it but once.^" 

" P\aith, sir, it is too much for them to believe. If I sav that I 
have meat once a day, they may believe ; but if I say three times a 
day, they will say it's Pat's fabrication." 

So the letter went telling the old father that his son in " Amer- 
iky " had meat once a day ; and it was true as far as it went. It was 
so much nearer the state of things in Pat's native land that it chal- 
lenged belief. 

So it was with the marv^els of agriculture in the New West a 
generation ago. They presented so great a contrast with the agri- 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



629 



culture of the East that crcckiHty could not span the chasm. If the 
reports had been half the size they might have been believed. As it 
was, caricature and burlesque modified e\en the facts that were gen- 
erally accepted, after the manner of the following : — 

"Yes, sir," resumed the Dakota man, as the crowd of agricultur- 
ists drew back from the bar and seated themselves around a little 
table, "yes, sir, we do things on rather a sizable scale. I've seen a 
man on one of our big farms start out in the spring and plough a 
straight furrow until fall, then he turned around and harvested back." 




bULKEY rLuuuM, " No, sn. The) follow 

him up with a steam hotel 
and have relays of men to change ploughs for him. We have some 
big farms up there, gentlemen. A friend of mine owned a farm on 
which he had to give a mortgage, and I pledge you my word the 
mortgage was due on one end before they could get it on record at 
the other. You see it was laid off in counties." 

There was a murmur of astonishment, and the Dakota man con- 
tinued : — 

" I got a letter from a man who lives in my orchard just before I 



630 



MARVELS OF THE NEW HEST. 



left home, and it had hcen three weeks getting to the dwelhng-house, 
although it had travelled day and night." 

" Distances are pretty wide up there, ain't they ? " inquired a New 
Utrecht agriculturist. 

''Reasonably, reasonably," replied the Dakota man. "And the 
worst of it is, it breaks up families so. Two years ago I saw a whole 
family prostrated with grief, — women yelling, children howling, and 
dogs barking. One of my men had his camp truck packed on seven 
four-mule teams, and he was around bidding everybody good by." 
" Where was he going .-* " asked a Gravesend man. 
" He was going half-way across the farm to feed the pigs," replied 
the Dakota man. 

" Did he ever get back to his family .^ " 

" It isn't time for him yet," 
returned the Dakota gentleman. 
" Up there we send young mar- 
ried coujiles to milk the cows, 
and their children bring home 
the milk." 

But time has not only vindi- 
cated the reports, but proved also 
that the half was never told. The 
wildest dream has become real- 
ity. The biggest story is not too 
large for belief. The bigger the 
better. The pendulum has swung 
to tlie other extreme. Nothing is 
too large for belief. Twenty and even thirt}' thousand acre farms, and 
a hundred bushels to the acre, is not an extravagant story now. Corn 
eighteen feet high, with ears long and heavy enough for a policeman's 
club, is not questioned now even by the uninitiated. Harvests like 
an army with banners, waving their golden plumes above the house 
which the farmer occupies, require no stretch of the imagination to 
realize. 

We have seen Kansas corn several feet higher than the dwelling 
which the owner occupied. The stocks were marvellously stout as 
compared with Eastern corn, and seemed to defy ordinary methods 
of harvesting. An axe appeared as necessary to lay that field of 
corn flat as in gathering a croj) of hoop-poles. Indeed, we should be 
as hopefully inclined to feed cattle with moderate-sized hoop-poles 
as with the stock of that corn. 




CORN IN THE KAW VALLEY, KANSAS. 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 63 1 

The newspapers teem with items now that would have been 
treated as wholly unreliable thirty years ago. Here is a sample : — 

" A stalk of corn twenty feet high, and bearing thirteen well- 
developed ears, is reported to have been grown at Encinitas, Cal., 
this season." 

"A Nevada pear tree, with a trunk only one inch in diameter, 
bears forty pounds of fruit." 

" Remi Nadeau, of Los Angeles Co., the largest vine planter in 
California, has set out about 100,000 vines this season, and is waiting 
for more rain to increase the number. He and his sons have now 
between three and four million vines, and are the largest grape 
growers in the world." 

"The Hcaldsbitrg (Cal.) Enterprise reports that last March Mr. 
H. O. Ludolff's hired man cut off a cutting from a grape-vine and 
stuck it in the ground for mere sport. About a month ago he called 
the attention of Mr. Ludolff to it, and he was surprised to see that it 
had grown seven feet high and bore grapes. The bunches were 
of immense size, and every bit as good as the original stock." 

"An Oregon man lives in a room which he hollowed out in the 
stump of a big tree. It has doors and windows, and answers the 
purpose of a house." 

" In California alfalfa is cut four and five times in the season, 
and averages from two and a half to two tons at each cutting, or 
from eight to ten tons per acre for the season." 

" In Placer Co., Cal., is an orange cling peach tree grown from a 
dormant bud, one year's growth, with stem an inch and a half in 
diameter, and standing thirteen feet high. Also, a late October 
peach grown in the same manner from bud this season, standing 
twelve feet high. 

" Messrs. Mitchell and McGindley exhibit a turnip which weighs 
twenty-one pounds, and measures two feet and three inches in 
circumference." 

" The largest squash ever raised in western Colorado was produced 
the past season on North Fork, in Delta Co. Its weight was 168 
pounds." 

" Mr. P., a neighbor about a mile and a half from the ranch, had 
planted, in soil turned that year for the first time, part of one ear of 
pop-corn from which he raised a crop that filled two barrels. A 
single kernel fell by accident into a potato hill about sixty feet 
distant from where the rest was planted, and produced a stock from 
which were picked seventeen ears of corn, on which, by actual count, 



6:;: 



M.U^rKLS OF THE NEW WEST. 




MILLhI — blX WbbKb UKOWIH^ 



there were ft)uncl six 
thousand five hundred 
and eigJUeen kernels.'' 

A Colorado farmer 
writes : " I raised three 
wa,u;on loads of squash- 
es on one-twelfth of an 
acre. 

" From my own <;ar- 
den I raised 2,240 bush- 
els of beets per acre. 
Also, 80 bushels of 
beans per acre. 

" From 1,000 to 
1,200 bushels of pars- 
nips per acre may be 
raised. I have them 
two and a half feet 
long." 

" California sent to 
the grand exposition at 
New Orleans, in 1885, 
a squash three feet 
long and two feet in 
diameter, weighing 165 
pounds ; early rose po- 
tatoes nine inches long 
and four in short diam- 
eter, weighing from 
two to three pounds 
each; a watermelon 
three feet long and two 
feet in diameter ; lieets 
weighing forty pounds 
apiece, cabbages si.xty 
]M)unds each, and 
caches so large in size 
that four average ones 
weighed three ])Ounds." 

" The Denver exjjo- 
sition shows a cabbage 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 633 

weighing eighty pounds, a pumpkin two hundred and twenty pounds, 
parsnips three feet long weighing twenty pounds, a beet sixty pounds, 
and onions weighing from six to eight pounds apiece." 

" Kansas boasts of corn eighteen feet high, and oats and millet 
ten feet." 

The foregoing remarkable facts are illustrations of what we read 
in public journals, almost daily, concerning the agriculture of the 
New West. We say facts, for facts they are, and not falsehoods. 
They have begotten "great expectations." From believing little of 
the reports a quarter of a century ago, people have come to believe 
them all, and ask for more marvels still. It is recorded in the Agri- 
cultural Bureau at Washington that the largest yield of wheat ever 
known in the whole world was grown in Salinas Valley, Monterey 
County, California, in 1852. The yield was one hundred and two 
bushels to the acre. Who can believe this fact, can believe all the 
possibilities of western agriculture. 

Turn now to the methods of agriculture in the New West, and 
behold how the boundless prairies are converted into gardens by en- 
terprise and tact. 

In 1880 the United States stood at the head of nations in agricul- 
tural and pastoral products, their value being $3,020,000,000. With- 
out the New West this creditable position would not have been 
attained. Russia stands next in the list, the value of her agricultural 
products being $2,545,000,000. Then Germany, with $2,280,000,000. 
Next France, with $2,220,000,000. Next Austria, with $322,000,000. 
Great Britain is the sixth in the list, from her comparatively small 
area producing $1,280,000,000 in value. 

One-fourth of all the wealth of the United States is employed in 
the cultivation of the soil. There are more than 4,000,000 farms, a 
majority of them being run by their owners. About 3,000,000,000 
bushels of grain are annually produced, the New West growing 
the larger part. The invention and multiplication of labor-saving 
machines has made this production possible. In 1830 the value 
of machinery used in agriculture was $150,000,000; it is now 
$500,000,000. 

It is estimated that there are 785,000 square miles of arable lands 
west of the Mississippi, 645,000 of grazing lands, 260,000 of timber 
lands, and 425,000 that are useless. There are nearly twice as many 
acres of arable land west of the Mississippi as there are east of 
it. The proportion is estimated thus : 1,690,000 west, and 800,000 
east. 



634 



MARVELS OF THE AEir U ESJ. 



Mr. Carnegie ^ strikingly puts the facts in the case as follows : 
"The farms of America comprise 837,628 square miles, an area 
nearly equal to one-fourth of Europe, and larger than the four great- 
est European countries put together (Russia excepted), namely, 




'^•il ': 



France, Germany, Austria and Hungary, and Spain. The caj^ital 
invested in agriculture would suffice to buy up the whole of Italy, 
with its rich olive-groves and vineyards, its old historic cities, cathe- 
drals and palaces, its kings and aristocracy, its pope and cardinals, 

* Triumphant Democracy, p. 199. 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



635 



and every other feudal appurtenance. Or, if the American farmers 
were to sell out, they could buy the entire peninsula of Spain, with 
all its traditions of mediaeval grandeur, and the fiat lands which the 
Hollanders at vast cost have wrested from the sea, and the quaint 
old towns they have built there. If he chose to put by his savings 
for three years, the Yankee farmer could purchase the fee-simple of 
pretty Switzerland as a summer resort, and not touch his capital at 
all ; for each year's earnings exceed ^550,000,000. The cereal crop 
of 1880 was more than 2,500,000,000 bushels. If placed in one mass, 
this would make a pile of 3,500,000,000 cubic feet. Built into a solid 
mass as high as the dome of St. Paul's (365 feet), and as wide as the 
cathedral across the transepts (285 feet), it would extend, a solid mass 
of grain, down Fleet Street and the length of the Strand and Pica- 
dilly, thence on through Knightsbridge, Hammersmith, and South 
Kensington, to a distance of over six miles. Or it would make a 
pyramid three times as great as that of Cheops. If loaded on carts, 
it would require all the horses in Europe and 1,000,000 more 
(33,500,000) to remove it, though each horse drew a load of two tons. 
Were the entire crop of cereals loaded on a continuous train of cars, 
the train would reach one and a half times around the globe. Its 
value is half as great as all the gold mined in California in the thirty- 
five years since gold was found there. The corn and cotton-fields of 
America form kingdoms in themselves, surpassing in size some of 
those of Europe." 



Distribution of Land Ai 



{Deduced front the Census of iSSo.) 



STATES AND TERRI- 


LAND IN FARMS. 


LAND NOT IN 


TOTAL 










FARMS. 


LAND AREA. 




IMPROVED. 


UNIMPROVED. 


TOTAL. 






Kansas 


107,39.566 


10,677,902 


21,417,468 


30,870,532 


52,288,000 


Nebraska . . . 


5,504,702 


4,440,124 


9,944,826 


.38,813,574 


48,758,400 


Oregon .... 


2,198,645 


2,016,067 


4,214,712 


56,303,688 


60,518,400 


Washington . . 


484,346 


925,075 


1,409,421 


41,393,779 


42,803,200 


Colorado . . . 


616,169 


549,204 


1,165,373 


65,167,427 


66,332,800 


Utah 


416,105 


239,419 


655,524 


51,946,076 


52,601,600 


Wyoming . . . 


83,122 


41,311 


124,433 


62,323,567 


62,448,000 


Montana . . . 


262,611 


143,072 


405,683 


92,592,717 


92,998,400 


Idaho 


197,407 


130,391 


327,798 


53,617,802 


53,945,600 


Nevada .... 


344,423 


186,439 


530,862 


69,702,738 


70,233,600 


Arizona .... 


56,071 


79,502 


135,573 


72,133,227 


72,268,800 


Dakota .... 


I, '50,413 


2,650,243 


3,800,656 


90,727,344 


94,528,000 


New Mexico . . 


237,392 


393,739 


631,131 


77,743,269 


78,374.400 


California . . . 


10,669,698 


5,924,044 


16,593,742 


83,233,458 


99,827,200 


Totals 


32,960,670 


28,396,532 


61,357,202 


886,569,198 


947,926,400 



636 



MARVELS OF THE NEW UEST. 




MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



637 



The illustration informs the reader at once how a farm of twenty 
or thirty thousand acres is ploughed. It is divided into sections, with 
superintendent and army of employees for each section, who go to 
work with military precision and order. The cut opposite represents 
two sections of workers, one of them in the distance, each moving 
forward like a column of cavalry, turning over a hundred acres of soil 
in an incredibly brief period of time. The superintendent is accom- 
l)anied by aids, furnished with all the necessary tools and materials 
for making repairs speedily, so as to reduce delays to the least possi- 
ble minimum. Under this arrangement the earth is easily conquered 
by this mighty army of ploughers, who move forward to the music 




STEAM GANG PLOUGH. 



of rattling machines and the tramp of horses. It is an inspiring 
spectacle, — the almost boundless prairie farm and the cohorts of 
hopeful tillers marching over it in triumph. 

Steam also reinforces the battalions of workers on many bonanza 
farms, largely multiplying the amount of labor performed. 

The process of harrowing an extensive wheat-field is like that of 
ploughing, the plough being exchanged for the harrow. The super- 
intendent, on horseback, leads the harrowing cavalcade, as the general 
does his army, and between the tramp of steeds and tear of harrows, 
the soil is pretty thoroughly pulverized. Workmen say there is pe'cu- 
liar fascination in this method of subduing Western land on a large 
scale. Men forget the burden of toil in the excitement of the hour. 



638 



J/.IAIA/.S O/-- THE iXh.W WEST. 



"Many hands make liL;ht work" is an old proxcib ; but it is full as 
true that many hands make merry work. Druilgery becomes no 
part of the labor. It is not really " hartl work," nor " wearinj;- work." 
There is so much sociability as well as novelty in the methods that 
no one is disposed to complain of "hard" work. Nor do they tire of 
the business as Eastern farmers, working early and late to support 
their families, often tire. Thev behold the reward of labor in the 




rich, loamy furrows, and are satisfied. It is three and four months 
before harvest, yet they see the thousands of acres of waving grain, 
the grandest spectacle upon which their eyes ever feasted. Says one 
who speaks from personal observation : — 

"After all, the most magnificent sight presented to the traveller 
is the almost boundless expanse of tall, waving wheat in North Dakota. 
Look out for eight, ten, or twenty miles, as far as the average human 
sight can pierce the distance, and view the lu.xuriant, stalwart grain 
swaying in the breeze and glittering in the golden sunlight like the 



MAJ<l'l:I.S ()/' AiJR/CULlURE. 



639 



coruscations of a soarin;< imagination, and if anything is lacking to 
complete the sublimity of the picture, compute the pile of golden 
eagles, or greenbacks, the alchemy of harvest will transmute into the 
pockets of the lucky owners of these Western bonanzas." 

The author of "California, the Cornucopia of the World," has com- 
municated so much information upon seeding wheat in that State, in 
d brief article, that we copy it entire. The difference between the 
seasons in California and some other portions of the New West is set 
forth by the writer : — 




bEEDlNCi ON A BONANZA FARM. 



"We have heretofore alluded to the fact that the seasons in Cali- 
fornia are so favorable to putting in grain that one man can put in 
much more there than in countries where the seasons are less favora- 
ble. By good management every farmer has a good portion of his 
land intended for wheat summer-fallowed. This he sows before the 
rain begins, say in September. The seed comes up with the first 
rain, and makes a large growth in the warm, pleasant, fall weather, 
which is as fine, growing weather as any April or May weather. 

" Then, when enough rain has fallen to moisten the soil sufficiently 



640 MAKIELS OF THE XEW WEST. 

to plough Stubble corn or new land, the teams are set to work putting 
in these kinds of lands to wheat. This is called winter-ploughed 
wheat. The ground being smooth, and soil entirely free of stone 
and deep and mellow, gang ploughs are used. Some use two and 
some three gangs, and where the fields are large and the soil in good 
condition and level, as high as eleven ploughs to the gang are used. 
Four horses are used on a two-gang plough, and six on a three-gang, 
and so increasing the number of horses to the number of ploughs in 
the gang, using twelve horses on eleven-gang ploughs. 

" The ploughs in the gangs, when so many are used, are generally 
smaller ploughs, say cutting a furrow eight and ten inches. Con- 
nected with the plough or gang of ploughs is a seed sower that sows 
the seed in front of the plough, and a harrow behind and attached to 
the plough, so that as the machine moves along the whole operation 
of ploughing, seeding, and harrowing is performed and completed. 
No matter how many ploughs in the gang or how many horses, one 
man attends to and manages the whole thing. It is always calcu- 
lated that the number of acres thus ploughed and sown in a day 
should be equal to the number of horses employed. Thus, with si.x 
horses six acres are sown, with eight horses eight acres, and with 
twelve horses twelve acres are put in in a day. Thas it will be seen 
that one man with twelve horses can, in one month of twenty-six 
working days, put in 312 acres. We have heretofore stated that our 
seed time for wheat is from September to April, eight months. At 
3 1 2 acres to the month, one man can thus put in 2,496 acres. Now, 
in this connection it must be remembered that all this labor, this 
important and money-making labor, is performed in the rainy season 
of California. It must also be remembered that the rainy season in 
California, as we have already explained, is not a season of contin- 
uous rains, as many have supposed. Sometimes it rains most of the 
time for two or three days, but more generally the farmer can work 
in the field the whole season through and not lose more than four or 
five days in the whole time." 

" Necessity is the mother of invention ; " and so the wheat-raisers 
found a way of harvesting their enormous crops. Our forefathers 
used the sickle, a very slow and unsatisfactory method of gathering 
grain. Less than a hundred years ago the " cradle " for cutting grain 
was invented by a Scotchman, and this created a revolution in har- 
vesting. It facilitated the autumn work of the farmer to such a 
degree that he never dreamed there could be any improvement upon 
that method. But even the "cradle" could not avail much on the 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



641 




HI 



11 





i^s^/" 





642 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



vast wheat-fields of the New West. Think of Dalrymple cradHng 
thirty thousand acres of grain ! One hundred men could cradle but 
three hundred acres per day at the most ; and one hundred days, 
at this rate, would be required for harvesting. This would " cost 
more than it comes to." Western farmers could not afford the 
expense. It was absolutely necessary that some other method of 
harvesting grain should be discovered, and it was. A machine for 
cutting, binding, and placing the bundles in an upright position 
met the needs of the hour. The problem of harvesting the largest 
fields of grain was solved by this invention. 

A romantic Western story was told about this machine last 
season. A young lady was intently watching its operation, when, in 




i'.(-/!?n,r^W''^°i,v 



f >«v. ' iVflik' 



STEAM HEADER. 



her eagerness to comj^rehend the process, she ventured too near its 
enfolding arms, and was taken up by them, as the grain was taken 
up, bound, and deposited on her feet. Being about the size of a 
bundle of grain, she passed through the pro'cess unhurt, and found 
herself standing upon her feet with no change except an additional 
neat little band about her waist. 

The writer, who has spoken to us of California from personal 
observation, speaks as follows of harvesting wheat and the use of the 
header : — 

" It must be remembered that there is no rain from the first or 
middle of May to the first or middle of October ; the seasons vary a 
little as to the close of the rainy season and the beginning of the dry. 
As a rule, the wheat in California is cut with a header. On some of 
the small farms the farmers unite together and purchase a header 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 643 

and alternate in the use of it. In other cases, farmers hire their 
grain cut by the acre by men who own headers, and make it a busi- 
ness to go from farm to farm during the harvest time. The general 
practice now is to have the grain cut and threshed at the same time, 
and by a man who owns and mans and works both a header and 
steam thresher. These cutting and threshing rigs are complete. 
They find all the teams and all the help, and move a kitchen and 
kitchen fixtures all on wheels along with them. They take contracts 
to cut and thresh wheat or other grain at so much an acre, bushel, or 
cental, doing all the work and finding everything, leaving the farmer 
nothing to do but receive and take care of his sacked wheat, and his 
wife no more care or trouble during harvesting and threshing time 
than at any other season of the year. The price per acre varies in 
accordance with the demand for labor and the character of the grain, 
but runs from seventy-five cents to a dollar and a quarter. 

" The wheat that is standing in the field in the morning is found 
in sacks, and frequently at the shipping depot, ready to be put on the 
steamer or cars for market before night. We have known it to be 
carried to mill and returned to the farm in the form of flour, and 
cooked, so that the hands who cut it in. the morning ate it at 
supper in the form of warm biscuit. We have in the San Joaquin 
valley, working successfully, combined headers and threshers. These 
machines move before the horses, — from twenty to twenty-four 
horses or mules to each machine, — cut and thresh and sack the 
grain, and leave the sacks in piles. Four men work them, and cut 
and thresh from twenty-five to forty acres a day, depending on the 
favorableness of the ground and the grain. If the farmer is busy 
when his wheat is threshed, and cannot well carry his wheat to the 
barn or storehouse or depot, all he has to do is to pile his sacks up 
in the field, cover them with straw, and let them lay there two or 
three months, or till he can conveniently move them. The clear blue 
sky is a guaranty against any damage from the weather, and the no- 
fence law is a guaranty that no stock shall interfere with it. The 
advantage secured to the farmer in sowing and harvesting his wheat, 
is, of course, secured to him in sowing and harvesting all other kinds 
of grain. 

" But one word now in reference to spring and winter wheat. We 
have no such distinction in California. It makes no difference where 
our seed comes from, or whether it bears the name of winter or 
spring wheat. Grown in California it simply becomes California 
wheat, and in Liverpool, or any other market in Europe, it is quoted 



644 



MAKl'ELS OF THE XEir IIESE. 



white wheat, and bears the highest quotations. We ehange our seed 
from time to time from one locality to another, or import seed from 
other States, to gain the advantages of such changes, but our crops 
bear in all cases the ear mark of the California climate. We have 
probably said enough to convince the reader that California can raise 
wheat cheaper than any other country, and to explain why the ratio 
of production in California is ten bushels for each man, woman, and 
child engaged in agricultural pursuits to one bushel for each man. 
woman, and child engaged in the same pursuits in Illinois, or any of 
the other States east of the Rocky Mountains. But we have one 
other advantage to speak of, and then we will leave this particular 
branch of the subject. It is found by actual statistics that the aver- 







THE STEAM THRESHER 



age yield per acre in California is two-fifths more than the average 
yield per acre on the eastern side of the continent." 

This cut shows the steam thresher of which our California inform- 
ant speaks. What he says about the rapidity wdth which the work is 
done — wheat cut in the morning appearing in hot biscuit at night — 
may seem as fabulous to the reader as any of the reports burlesqued 
thirty years ago. But the writer of the foregoing is perfectly relia- 
ble, and speaks ofificially, too. 

Eastern farmers cannot understand hcnv it is that North Dakota, 
with its cold, piercing winters and terrible blizzards, and summers 
swept by cyclones, can produce more wheat per acre than even Cali- 
fornia. A scientist explains the matter as follows : " The qualities 
of climate which bear on wheat-raising in North Dakota, and con- 



MARV/CLS OF ACiR/CilLTURi:. 



645 



tribute more rc<^u]arly, uniformly, and efficiently to the growth of the 
crop than any found in more southerly climes, are, mcjre daily sun- 
shine, ---the da)s, by reason of the higher altitude, being longer, — 
cool nights which always favor the cereal crops, deep frosts which 
gradually melt and supply moisture to the growing plant, less intense 
heat during the maturing months, fewer injurious caprices of weather 
at the critical period of growth, and natural climatic conditions which 
render possible the production of hard sj^ring wheat, — a cheap crop. 




''^.yt,0?.^0m>»^^^;a,^^h>„,m 



Mccormick s new reaper 



by reason of its being a quick crop of only about one hundred days 
from seeding to maturity." 

The prevailing westerly winds, called " Chinook," extend to the 
inland plains of the northern Pacific country, and sensibly modify the 
climate. 

In New England the farmer waits for the frost to quit the earth 
before he undertakes to seed it. I^ut in Dakota, and all the region 
which the Northern Pacific Railway has opened for settlement, the 
farmer plants and sows as soon as the warm sun of March has 



646 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

melted three or four inches of the six feet of frost in the soil. The 
frost continues to melt after the earth is seeded, affording moisture 
and heat from beneath, to the great advantage of all cereals. Like 
the underground irrigation of California, this process of dissolving the 
frost slowly turns out to be one of the finest arrangements of nature 
for growing wheat rapidly and plentifully. 

Eastern people who feel the cold chills creeping over them when- 
ever they think of Oregon and Washington Territory, to say nothing 
of Montana and Idaho, will be both surprised and instructed by read- 
ing the following : — 

" West of the Cascade Range the winters are rainy, rather than 
cold. The average temperature for spring is 52°; for summer, 67°; 
for autumn, 53°; and for winter, 38°; showing a mean deviation of 
only 29° during the year. The winter, or rainy season, begins about 
the middle of October, often later, and ends about the first of May. 
The rains are more copious in December, January, and March. 

" Since the settlement of the country by white men, beginning 
with Lewis and Clark's expedition, in the early part of the century, 
no storm has done .material damage in the region west of the Rocky 
Mountains, north of California. 

" In Western Oregon and Washington Territory, whenever the 
thermometer falls a few degrees below the freezing point, the weather 
is usually bright and pleasant, with heavy white frost at night. The 
frosts that occur in spring, which in other lands would be severe 
enough to injure fruit and other crops, are commonly followed by 
heavy fogs from the ocean. The humidity of these fogs dissolves 
the frost before the sun can strike the vegetation, so that no harm is 
done by it. This moist atmosphere keeps the grass perennially 
green on the coast, and it is not unusual for flowers to bloom in the 
open air the winter through. 

" Ice is seldom sufficiently thick to be cut for use, and skating is 
a rare pastime. The spring opens so early that the farmer sows his 
seed, and the fruit trees and wild flowers are in bloom, when in lati- 
tude from four to six degrees further south, on the Atlantic coast, 
the rigor of winter is still unrelaxed. 

" East of the Cascade Mountains, it must be remembered, the 
climate and natural features of the country are very different from 
those of the great basin lying west of them, so that the popular 
divisions, Eastern and Western Oregon and Washington Territory, 
arc warranted. 

*' In the eastern section the thermometer is much hiuher in sum- 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 647 

mer and lower in winter than in the western section. The rain-fall 
is only half as heavy. From June to September there is no rain, the 
weather being perfect for harvesting. The heat is great, but not 
nearly so oppressive as a much lower grade would be in the Eastern 
States, and the nights are invariably cool. 

" The winters are short, but occasionally severe. Snow seldom 
falls before Christmas, and sometimes lies from four to six weeks, 
but usually disappears in a few days. The so-called ' Chinook,' a 
warm wind, is of great benefit to the country ; it blows periodically, 
and melts deep snows in the course of a few hours. This warm 
atmosphere is caused by the passage of the wind across the Japan 
current. 

" In Eastern Oregon and Washington spring begins in February, 
with warm, pleasant weather, and lasts until the middle of May. At 
this season rain falls in sufficient quantity to give life to vegetation 
and ensure good crops. The average temperature is 52°. 

"Autumn weather in October and November is generally delight- 
ful. There is often frost by night, but the days are usually warm 
and bright. The season is marked by showers, and also by thunder- 
storms in some localities. The mercury ranges between 55° and 70°. 

" The rain-fall of the year does not average more than twenty 
inches. South of the Snake River it is not more than fifteen inches, 
increasing gradually to the northward. 

" Paradoxical as it may seem, if the rain were greatly in excess of 
this low average, damage would certainly ensue ; and it is equally 
sure, if successful farming depended upon the limited rain-fall, there 
would be poor harvests. The clouds supply only in part the moisture 
which is needed. The warm-air currents, surcharged with vapor, 
which sweep inland from the ocean up the channel of the Columbia 
River, prevent drought. The effect of these atmospheric currents in 
tempering the climate has already been described. Their influence 
upon the vegetation is no less vital. The moisture with which they 
are laden is held in suspension during the day, diffused over the face 
of the country. At night it is condensed by the cooler temperature, 
and precipitated in the form of a fine mist on every exposed particle 
of surface which earth and plant present. The effect is that of a 
copious shower. This is apparent on taking a morning walk through 
the grass, which can only be done at the cost of wet feet. In this 
region it is no unusual phenomenon for a smart shower to fall when 
clouds are invisible and the sun is shining. This occurrence is ex- 
plained also upon the theory that the vapor in the atmosphere comes 



648 



J/./AW7;A.V or THE XEW WEST. 



in contact with an upjicr current of coUl air, which causes rapid con- 
densation and consequent rain. A summer droui^ht, therefore, which 
in most cHmates is a calamity, is here a benefit. The soil neeils no 
more rains after those of the spring are over, and the farmer may de- 
pentl upon cUnulless skies at harvest time. Vox example, the wheat 
crop of l'!astcrn Washington in iSv*^^ was (\500.OOO bushels, and no 
rain fell between Mav and Seiitcmbci-. 

" The ordinai\- harxcst time fiu- wheat is from June J4 to ScjU. 
10; for oats, from July 13-20; for barlew from June 20 to Juh- 
I ; for rve. from July i-io; for corn, from Aug. jo to Sept. 10. 

•• Harns and sheds for keeping the grain, which are imlispensable 
in other countries, are scarcely needed east of the Cascade Moun- 




tains. The grain is threshed in the heUls bv machinery, and thence 
sent in sacks directly to warehouses for storage or exportation." 

And this is that portion of our land which was marked, on the 
maj^s of our boyhood. lands unfit for cnltiiuition. Then, before 
actual experiment had disproyetl the conclusiim, the existence of 
"bunch grass" was proof of sterilit\' ; but ni>w it is jtroof ot fer- 
tility. 

We haye heard a great deal about the "bail lands" of Dakota; 
but these lands constitute but a small fraction of the Terrilor\-. — 
only ninety-fiye thousand acres out oi ninety-four million fi\e hundred 
twenty-eight thousand. And these lands are not so "bad " after all ; 
for these lands are extensiyely used for grazing, and Mr. Ci. \'. Smalley 
of St. Paul, who speaks after careful examination, says, "Cattle come 
out of the bad kuuls in the spring as fat as though they had been 
stall-fed all winter." Surely there is much poorer land than that in 
New luiirland. The United States Suryeyor-General says, "The 



MAKVJJ.:; ()/■ A(jj;/(.(j/:juj;J: 



649 



proportion of waste land in Dakota, owin^ to the absence of swamps, 
mountain-ran j^es, overflowed and sandy tracts, is less than in any 
other State or Territory in the Union." 

The opinion prevails that there is much worthless land in Utah. 
It is true to a certain extent, but the quantity of worthless land in 
that Territory is much less than people suppose. The Surveyor-Gen- 
eral of the Territory says : " Notwithstanding the opinion of many 
who deem our lands ' arid, desert, and worthless,' these same lands, 
under proper tillage, produce forty to fifty bushels of wheat, seventy 
to eighty bushels of oats and barley, from two hundred to four hun- 
dred bushels of potatoes to the acre, and fruits and vcgetabjfrs frona! 
to any other State or Territory in quantity or quality." 



^S^-^ 



p3^; ■ -/■ 





iriT' 



y/-f?f. 



/h^KB-K. 



^'l 




i:^.kL. 



'x^rj^MAf. g, Wtw y, frvM, Ij y-^ik^-.! 



M/P SHO//iKG <iZCj<:iRkPH\ZkL CEKTRE OF THE UKITEO '.t; 



Geographically, Kansas is the "hub" of the American Republic. 
An able journalist says : — 

" Kansas lies between the thirty-seventh and fortieth parallels of 
latitude, the district which, the world round, controls the destinies 
of the globe, and the time will come when this .State will be the 
powerful centre of the most powerful nation on earth. In 1790 
the centre of population in the United States was in Marjdand, on 
the thirty-ninth parallel, and at every census it has moved westward 
very nearly along that line, until now it is just west of Cincinnati 
and on its way to Kansas. The thirty-ninth parallel, which has been 
the thread upon which, as on the necklace of the world, have been 



650 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

strung the jewels of wealth, culture, plenty, luxury, and refinement, 
passes directly through the State of Kansas, through the fertile 
Arkansas Valley." 

The Commissioner of Immigration furnishes a map to prove be- 
yond controversy that Kansas is the central State of the Union. He 
says : — 

" The geographical centre of the United States is located near 
Fort Riley, not far from the centre of Kansas, and near the place 
where Coronado first crossed the Kansas River. Take a map of the 
United States and fold it both ways, — fold the ends together and 
crease it through the middle ; then place the top and bottom edges 
together, and crease the map again. It will be found that the creases 
will cross in Kansas, as is shown by the lines drawn at right angles 
to each other through the middle of the map on the preceding page. 
With the point where these lines cross as a common centre, describe 
circles including parts, or all of the United States, and the central 
location of the State will at once be apparent. The same circle 
which passes through Boston passes through San Francisco." 

Reference to the centre of population in 1790, by the writer just 
quoted, adds interest to the following table : — 

" It is claimed that the centre of population has moved westward 
at the rate of fifty miles for every ten years, since 1790, which is five 
miles a year. 

In 1790 the centre of population was 22 miles east of Baltimore. 

iSoo " " " 17 miles west of Baltimore. 

1810 " " " 40 miles northwest of Washington. 

1820 " " " 16 miles north of Woodstock, Va. 

1830 " " " -19 miles west by southwest of Mooland, W. Va. 

1840 " " " 16 miles west of Clarksburg, W. Va. 

1850 " " " ... 23 miles southeast of Parkersburg, W. Va. 

1800 " " " 20 miles south of Chillicothe, O. 

1870 " " " .... 48 miles east by north of Cincinnati, O. 

1880 " " " 8 miles west by south of Cincinnati, O. 

It is a significant fact that corn is king in the pivotal State of the 
Union, though only eight million of its fifty-two million acres are 
under cultivation. If the State were as thickly populated as Eng- 
land, it would contain thirty-five million people, — five times as large 
a population as would be necessary to bring evcr\' acre of its arable 
land into a high state of cultivation. If a million and a quarter of 
inhabitants cultivate eight million acres, si.x million of people will 
bring the whole area under the plough and harrow. 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



651 



Corn became king in Kansas in 1883. In i860 the farmers of 
that State raised but six million bushels of corn ; in 1883 they raised 
one hundred seventy-two million bushels, and thereby stepped to the 
front. Moreover, this vast yield of corn was mostly sound. The 
" Report of the United States Department of Agriculture for March, 
1884" says that "Kansas, in 1883, raised sixty-two million more 
bushels of ' merchantable corn ' than did any other State of the 
Union." Said report furnishes the following very instructive 
tables : — 



Sound Corn. 



Oregon 
Dakota . 
Michigan . 
Wisconsin 
New York 



- Bushels. 
106,026 
1,867,721 
3,854,214 
4,008,481 
6,129,445 



Mississippi 23,236,532 

Ohio 27,052,800 

Iowa 44,103,540 



Bushels. 

Indiana 46,853,800 

Te.xas 57-463,133 

Kentiiclcy 64,125,476 

Nebraska 67,856,863 

Illinois 73,363,140 

Missouri 96,993,000 

Kansas 158,976,828 



That the reader may gather an idea of the exact force of these 
figures, the per cent of corn raised in the various States which was 
actually merchantable is given : — 



Oregon 93.J 

Wisconsin 17 

Michigan 18 

Iowa 26 

New York 35 

Illinois 36 

Dakota 38 

Ohio -,8 



Indiana 49 

Missouri 60 

Nebraska 67 

Kentucky 82 

Texas . . 91 

Mississippi 92 

Kansas . . 92 



The United States Department of Agriculture shows, also, the 
number of bushels per acre raised in the best corn-growing States in 
1883, and Kansas leads the van : — 



Bushels per Acre. 



South Carolina 

Georgia 

Mi.ssissippi 

Arkansas . 

Texas . . 

Dakota 

Tennessee 

Minnesota 

Wisconsin 



.0 I 
•7 
■5 
•5 

•5 



New York 23.0 

Oregon 23.5 

Kentucky 24.0 

Colorado 25.0 

Illinois 25.0 

Indiana 27. 

Missouri 27.5 

Kansas 36.7 



652 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



One who has examined the reports of the United States Depart- 
ment of Agriculture for the aggregate production of wheat in Kansas, 
says : — 

"Kansas produced more corn to the acre than did any other State 
or Territory. Kansas produced sixty-two million more bushels of mer- 
chantable corn than did any other State or Territory. Kansas pro- 
duced, in 1883, more corn than did any other State excepting Illinois, 
and at the present rate of increase will outrank Illinois in 1884. 
When one remembers these four facts, he cannot but acknowledge that 
Kansas is the first corn State in the Union. This, of itself, is suffi- 
cient to crown Kansas chief of the farming States, if no other crops 
were thought of. 




TWO-ROWED CORN-PLANTER. 



" A careful examination of the official statistics as to wheat will 
prove that no State outranks Kansas in the profitable production of 
this cereal. In i86o the aggregate yield for the whole State was 
194,173 bushels. In 1870 it had increased to but 2,391,198 busli- 
els. In 1882 the average yield per acre was 23.17 bushels, the 
total yield 35,734,846 bushels. In 1883 the yield fell to 26,851,100 
bushels, Dakota producing 16,128,000, and Oregon 13,122,400 bush- 
els. In 1883 only one State, Colorado, produced more wheat to the 
acre and got more money from each acre of wheat than did Kansas, 
and the limited area which Colorado can devote to wheat-raising 
takes her out of the list of rivals. For the product of each acre in 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



653 



wheat Kansas farmers got sixty-five cents more than did those of 
CaHfornia, $2.13 more than the dwellers in Dakota, and $3.25 more 
than the men of Minnesota. Herewith is given the number of 
bushels per acre raised in 1883 in various States. Colorado, which 
yielded twenty-one bushels to the acre, is omitted for reasons pre- 
viously given. 



Bushels of Wheat. 



'7-5 
16.0 



Kansas 

Dakota 

Nebraska 15. 5 

California . . 13.0 

Minnesota i^.o 



New York 10.3 

Ohio . 10. o 

Illinois 10. o 

Texas S.5 

Arkansas 6.1 




EMPIRE GRAIN-DRILl 



The number of bushels of wheat raised in Kansas in various years 
from i860 to 1883 was as follows : — 



i860 194,173 

1870 2,391,198 

1872 3,062,941 

1873 5,994,044 

1874 9,881,383 

1875 13,209,403 

1876 14,620,225 



1877 14,316,705 

1878 32,315,358 

1880 17,324,141 

1881 20,479,579 

1882 35,734,846 

1883 26,851,100 



654 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

The yield of oats in Kansas is scarcely less remarkable than that 
of wheat The following comparative statement of the number of 
bushels of o?ts per acre in 1883 is derived from official sources : — 



Arkansas 14-4 

Texas 22. S 

Missouri 28. 7 

Colorado ... 29.3 

Wisconsin 30.4 

Minnesota TtZ-^ 



Iowa 34.1 

Michigan 34.6 

Illinois 36.1 

Nebraska 40.0 

Dakota .... 42.9 

Kansas 44 -6 



In 1884 Kansas sowed fifteen per cent more acreage of oats than 
in 1883. The State produced, also, 49,1 13,000 bushels of wheat, which 
was 13,000,000 more bushels than any State raised in 1883. Other 
statistics prove that farming in Kansas is diversified notwithstanding 
the prominence of corn and wheat. The rye crop of the State was : — 

No. Bushels. Value. 

1877 2,525,054 5806,092 

187S 2,722,008 816,602 

1883 ..... 5,084,391 1,666.909,70 

Other Farm Products 

Stands of bees in 1883 19.752 

Pounds of honey ..... 325,000 

Pounds of cheese 59i,770 

Pounds of butter 23,947,016 

Pounds of sugar made from sorghum 600,000 

(iallons of syrup ... 4,684,023 

Acres of sorghum in 1883 . . 102,042 

Value of sorghum cane per acre . $20.17 

Total value of product of sorghum fields $2,058,127.60 

The per cent of returns on money invested in farming lands, offi- 
cially stated, puts Kansas again at the head of the roll of honor. In 
Pennsylvania it is I3-Jper cent; Ohio, 13! ; New Jersey, 15^; IVIassa- 
chusetts, 16^; New York, i6f ; Maryland, i/f ; Indiana, i8^V; i^ich- 
igan, i8j; Illinois, 20i ; Wisconsin, 20'^; Virginia, 21^; Kentucky, 
2\\ ; Kansas, 22}. 

The value of Kansas farms is a very significant item. It is the 
value of only the 21,417,468 acres now in farms, and does not include 
the more than 30,000,000 acres not in farms. These farms are valued 
at only $10.98 per acre, while Massachusetts farms average $43.52 ; 
Connecticut, $49.34; New York, $44.41 ; Pennsylvania, $49.30; Ohio, 
$45.97; Michigan, $36.15 ; and Illinois farms $31.87 per acre. The 
following is the comparative value of farms in 1883 : — 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 655 



Dakota $22,401,048 

Colorado 25,109,223 

Oregon 56,908,575 

Arkansas 74,249,655 

Nebraska 105,932,541 

Georgia 111,910,540 



North Carolina $135,793,602 

Texas 170,468,886 

Kansas 235,178,936 

True valuation of all property 

in Kansas $402,864,163.22 



We have quoted the value of the honey product of Kansas, v.-hich 
is but a fair illustration of the value of this industry all through the 
New West. It is a land of flowers, sweet-scented and beautiful. 
The bee finds it a natural home, and gathers sweets from its vast 
area of floral wealth. A tourist writes of the flowers of Kansas as 
follows : — 

" Can you picture to yourself ten acres of portulaca .'' or whole 
hillsides curtained with what seems a superb variety of wisteria, ex- 
cept that it grows on a stalk instead of hanging from a vine .^ Do 
you know how it feels not to be able to step without crushing a 
flower, so that the little prairie dogs, sitting contentedly with their 
intimate friends the owls on the little heaps of earth thrown up 
around their holes, have every appearance of having planted their 
own front yards with the choicest floral varieties } Think of driving 
into a great field of sunflowers, the horses trampling down the tall 
stalks, that spring up again behind the carriage, so that one outside 
the field would never know that a carriage-load of people were any- 
where in it ; or, riding through a 'grove' of them, the blossoms tow- 
ering out of reach as you sit on horseback, and a tall hedge of them 
grown up as a barrier between you and your companion ! Not a daisy, 
or a buttercup, or a clover, or a dandelion, will you see all summer ; 
but new flowers too exquisite for belief ; the great white prickly pop- 
pies, and the sensitive rose, with its leaves delicate as a maiden-hair 
fern, and its blossom a countless mass of crimson stamens tipped 
with gold, and faintly fragrant. Even familiar flowers are unfamiliar 
in size, profusion, and color. What at home would be a daisy is here 
the size of a small sunflower, with petals of delicate rose-pink, vary- 
ing from a cone-shaped centre of rich maroon shot with gold." 

The same writer describes another scene as follows : — 

" It was a river of flowers ; I do not know how else to describe it. 
A deep hollow, like the dried channel of a river, perhaps nearly half a 
mile long, completely filled, between bank and bank, with a mass of 
most exquisite pink flowers. Not a green leaf nor a stalk could be 
seen, and there was not a break in the broad surface of bloom ; though 
the flower itself, when examined, proved to be the tiniest of things ; 



6s6 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



something not unlike the httle white sweet-clover that we find in 
eastern garden-beds ; only of a most wonderful rose-color. The 
curious part of it was that not a single one of the flowers could be 
found anywhere in the meadow, even a foot beyond the river-bed ; 

they were concentrated 
there, and only there, and 
lay like a broad pink rib- 
bon on the prairie ; a bit of 
landscape gardening which 
I have never seen a land- 
scape gardener able to sur- 
pass. 

" If I were to chronicle 
the flowers as they ap- 
peared, I might date my 

prayers, as Miss did 

her diary, ' The day we 
found the first sensitive 
rose ' ; ' the day we drove 
over to the Elk House to 
see the prickly pear with 
sixty blossoms on it'; 
' the day we saw the sun- 
flower twenty feet high ' ; 
' the day that I, a member 
of the Society for the Pro- 
tection of Animals, which 
ought to include flowers, 
trampled down half an acre 
of crimson portulaca, 
because I couldn't find 
room for my horse's feet 
where there wasn't a blos- 
som,' etc., etc. But I have 
grown fond of large figures 
since I have known the 
West, and am tempted to 
mass my flowers as nature does there, and give them all to you at 
once. Ah! If my page could only glow with their color! There 
were very few of the flowers we had known at the East ; many 
were not even in the botanies." 




auNFLQ/v'ER; 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



657 



Raising broom corn is a valuable industry of Kansas. Last year 
about thirty thousand acres were planted, which yielded twenty 
million pounds, valued at $700,000. The illustration shows the 
method of baling and shipping the crop. 

Tree-planting is another prosperous industry, not only in Kansas, 
but in every State and Territory of the New West. 

In 1 88 1 there was in Kansas the following number of acres in 
planted forest : — 



Walnut . . 
Maple . . . 
Honey Locust 
Cottonwood . 



5.895 

6,453 

1,215 

39,108 



Osage Orange 617 

Catalpa 788 

Other varieties 38,763 

Total 92,839 




Since that time the acreage of tree-planting has rapidly increased. 
The governor of Kansas said, in his "Arbor Day" proclamation, that 
"the State which the pioneers found almost treeless and a desert, 
now bears upon its fertile bosom twenty million fruit trees and more 
than two hundred thousand acres of forest trees, all planted by our 
own people." A writer says : — 

"These groves have attained a height of from fifteen to sixty feet, 
the trees having a diameter of three to fifteen inches. The annual 
growth is from one to two inches diameter, and a four or five year 



658 MARVELS OF THE AEW WEST. 

old forest will thereafter furnish a good supply of fuel for the family. 
In the homestead counties, where the Government has stimulated arti- 
ficial forestry by the ' Timber Act,' giving any man, or head of family, 
one hundred and sixty acres of land on the condition of his or her 
planting forty acres of the same in timber and caring for it seven 
years, beautiful groves of Cottonwood, ash, box-elder, maple, and 
walnut dot the country in every direction, and lend a charm to the 
prairie landscape quite beyoml the power of description. These 
charming groves will be as numerous and noteworthy, in the near 
future of Kansas, as the orchards of Michigan and Western New 
York. Columns of forest trees outline the farms and highways for 
miles and miles, in many districts, and it is no unusual thing for a 
farmer to plant ten thousand young trees in a single year. With the 
pretty valley timber belts and artificial groves grown into stateliness, 
ten years from to-day Kansas will be one grand continuous park, and 
the most beautiful country under the sun. Beyond the question of 
abundant and cheap fuel, building and fencing timber, and embellish- 
ment of landscape, which are involved in extended tree-planting, these 
groves will superinduce rainfall, temper the February and March 
winds, and give increased equability to the climate." 

The State of Nebraska originated "Arbor Day"; thanks for the 
public enterprise of its citizens. Minnesota was the first State to 
copy Nebraska's example, and one million five hundred thousand 
trees were planted in that State on its first "Arbor Day." Now, the 
States and Territories west of the Missouri River make tree-planting 
an important industry. 

Nebraska not only originated "Arbor Day," but enacted stringent 
laws, also, for the protection of trees, and made very liberal provisions 
to encourage tree-planting, as follows : — 

"The Nebraska State constitution provides that 'the increased 
value of lands by reason of live fences, fruit and forest trees grown 
and cultivated thereon shall not be taken into consideration in the 
assessment thereof.' A State law 'exempts from taxation for five 
years $ICXD valuation for each acre of fruit trees planted, and $50 for 
each acre of forest trees ' ; also makes it obligatory that ' the corpo- 
rate authorities of cities and villages in the State shall cause shade 
trees to be planted along the streets thereof.' 

"Further: 'Any person who shall injure or destroy the shade 
tree or trees of another, or permit his or her animals to do the same, 
shall be liable to a fine of not less than S5, nor more than S50 for 
each tree injured or destroyed.' 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 659 

" To encourage growing live fences the law permits planting ' pre- 
cisely on the line of the road or highway, and for its protection to 
occupy, for a term of seven years, six feet of the road or highway.' " 

Other States and Territories of the New West soon followed the 
good example of Nebraska. 

From the Department of Agriculture at Washington we learn 
that "from 1854 up to and including the year 1882, covering a period 
of twenty-eight years, official statistics, with some reliable estimates 
to cover dates not thus provided, it is found there has been planted 
within the borders of vvhat is now the State of Nebraska 244,356 
acres of forest trees. This includes seedlings, seeds, and cuttings 
planted in permanent forests, groves, and along highways and streets 
in cities and villages. Spontaneous indigenous growth, since fires 
have been kept from borders of streams and ravines, is estimated 
equal to half the area planted." 

" It is safe to say a majority of planting is made, originally, four 
feet by four, with view to cutting out first one-half, as growth de- 
mands space, and eventually another half of that remaining — three- 
fourths in all. Some plant six by six, others eight by eight. Planted 
four by four we have 2,622 trees to the acre, or a total of 640,701,- 
432; eight by eight, 682 to the acre, or a total of 166,680,792. Aver- 
age the totals, and there is shown 403,676,112. Add to the average 
the spontaneous estimate, one-half, and the grand total is, planted 
and grown in 28 years, 605,514,168 trees." 

The National Government encourages tree-planting on its public 
domain, by what is known as "The Timber Act." The original pas- 
sage of the act occurred in 1873, and was amended in 1874. In 1878 
it was amended again, and put into its present shape. During the 
first ten years of its existence, 93,246 filings, covering 13,637,146 
acres, were made — all but one million acres of the whole in the New 
West ; a fact that proves the Far West to be largely in advance of the 
East in this important industry. 

Most of the railroad companies of the New West have engaged in 
forestry, along their respective lines, and produced remarkable results. 
The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad Company employed a 
forester for several years ; and the same was true of other railroad 
companies. The first object sought was to learn whether the soil and 
climate were favorable to the growth of trees ; and what kind of 
trees were best adapted to different localities. Cottonwood, box- 
elder, black walnut, green ash, ailanthus, catalpa, elm, honey locust, 
gray willow, soft maple, and osage orange were the principal varieties 



66o MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

of trees planted. Their growth was marvellous. In eight years- 
some of the cottonwoods were fifty feet high ; honey locust, twenty- 
five ; gray willows, forty ; box-elder, black walnut, and maples, twenty. 

A report of the Missouri River, Fort Scott & Gulf Railroad, 
October, 1882, says: — 

" Three hundred and twenty acres are planted, and we are now 
planting 180 acres more. That will be finished before winter sets 
in, or before April i, 1883. The plantation consists of catalpa {spc- 
ciosa)y with the exception of a few acres. They are all planted 4 by 
4 feet apart, containing 2,720 trees to the acre. The land is prepared 
same as for corn, and the trees are planted with spades. The catalpa- 
trees planted in 1878, after four summers' growth, are 10 to 15 feet 
high and 2^ to 3^^ inches in diameter. Three years planted, 5 to 9 
feet ; two years planted, 3^^ to 6 feet (a drought last year) ; one year 
planted, 3 to 4 feet. On rich land these trees shade the ground 
after two years' cultivation. On poorer land they require three 
years' cultivation. 

" On the Hunnewell plantation, three miles from Farlington, we 
have already planted 175 acres catalpa {speciosa) and ailanthus, and 60 
acres of the white ash. The catalpa are one and two years planted ; 
we will have 285 acres on the above plantation between now and 
April next, all catalpa and ailanthus, making 560 acres on the Hun- 
newell plantation. Our contract requires 2,000 trees to the acre 
when they are 4 to 6 feet high. Nearly ev^ery acre on both planta- 
tions will contain 2,500 trees; every acre will contain over 2,000 
trees." 

The St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railroad reported about 
the same time : — 

"We have no trees planted on our road excepting 50,000 catalpa- 
trees on right of way near Charleston, Mo. We have a plantation or 
farm of catalpa-trees (100,000 trees) on Belmont branch, eighteen miles 
from Belmont, Mo. The above were all raised from seed. We also 
have a catalpa farm of 250,000 trees at Bertrand, Mo., about twenty 
miles from Bird's Point, on the Cairo branch of this road. These were 
planted in June, 1880, from slips. Have been cultivated twice, and 
are now in fine, thrifty condition. Will average about eight feet high, 
and will not require any cultivation after next year." 

Mr. Crofutt said of the Union Pacific Railway, at that time, which 
planted immense numbers of the eucalyptus, or Australian blue gum- 
tree : — 

" These trees are planted along the sides of the streets, around 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE^ 



66 1 



public buildings, in the grounds of private residences, and by the 
Railroad Company in immense quantities. The latter had 300,000 
of these trees growing beside their road and around their stations in 
the year 1877, and we understand 500.000 more are to be set out as 
soon as they can be procured. One peculiarity of this tree, besides 
its being an evergreen and unusually thrifty, is, that it will grow on 
the most sandy, alkaline, dry, and barren soil, and it is said \o be a 
sure jDreventive against chills and fever, where it is grown in profu- 
sion. Some claim that it is fire-proof, and that shingles or plank 
sawed from these trees will not burn, and for that reason they are 
very much esteemed in Australia, ^ its native countrv, — and from 



^.^t^^ 




PIONEER FARMER'S HOME IN MONTANA. 

which the first on this coast were imported. There are one hundred 
and twenty-five known species of the eucalypti, about fifty of which 
are found in California." 

The foregoing facts are sufficient to introduce the reader to a 
charming industry which is comparatively unknown in the East. 
Here shade trees are chiefly planted for beauty and comfort ; but in 
the New West both of these objects are secured together with larn-e 
profits. ^ 

Eastern people wonder over the rush of farmers into Dakota, 
Montana, and other sparsely populated portions of the New West.' 
The gold-fields of California never created more enthusiasm among 
enterprising men than have the wheat-lands of Dakota. A traveller 
who saw for himself, two years ago or more, said : -^ 



662 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

" They are coming by excursions, in regular trains, sleepers, and 
stock cars ; by carriages, white-covered wagons, on horseback, and on 
foot. They are coming by battalions and columns, by townships 
and counties, all flocking out here to settle Dakota. Every shade of 
business, every class of men and women, are represented. The 
lawyer has left his brief, the doctor his patients, the merchant locked 
his store, the banker closed his bank, the mechanic dropped his tools, 
the laborer quit his work, the farmer sold his possessions, the teacher 
resigned his position, and all rush pell-mell for Dakota to secure a 
quarter-section of her dirt — the sure foundation of a fortune. Some 
come for health, and all for wealth, but few are dissatisfied. Hun- 
dreds who emptied their pocket-books to obtain the fourteen dollars 
necessary to file upon their land three years ago are to-day worth 
from two to three thousand dollars, with good farms and happy 
homes." 

The pioneer who was content and happy with his humble accom- 
modations for a few years, as seen in the foregoing illustration, found 
ample reward for his labor and self-denial in his future independence 
and competency. An actual fact will confirm this statement. 

A pioneer farmer from New Hampshire rented an eighty-acre 
farm in Montana, in 1870, on which there was a small log cabin and 
barn. Without capital, and with but one team, he raised two thou- 
sand four hundred bushels of wheat, which he sold for enough to 
enable him to purchase the farm, pay some old debts, and settle his 
family thereon, the next year. Another larger crop still replenished 
his purse, and sent him on his way rejoicing. Then he fought grass- 
hoppers two years, and harvested fair crops notwithstanding their 
ravages. In 1875 he cleared something over four thousand dollars ; 
and in 1877 he raised a large crop of barley, from which he realized 
five thousand dollars. The other crops raised that year were suffi- 
cient to pay hired help and incidental expenses, so that the barley 
crop was a net ])r()fit. I1ie largest crop raised any single year was 
in 1 88 1, when he threshed twelve thousand bushels. Ascertaining 
that his land was well adapted to raising barley for brewers' use, he 
devoted considerable of his fields to it, the last three crops amounting 
to from five to seven thousand dollars annually. 'His large crop 
raised last year would have exceeded any other had it not been for 
the low prices caused by competition inaugurated by the Northern 
Pacific Railroad. The wheat crop of his farm last year yielded some- 
thing over twelve hundred sacks of flour. The only crop failure 
during the past thirteen years occurred in 1876, we believe, when his 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



663 



five-hundred-acre field of growing grain was completely destroyed by 
a hail-storm, the loss of which was fully ten thousand dollars. The 
work of the storm was so complete that he did not raise enough for 
seed. Yet, with this failure and the disadvantage of starting with 
nothing and overburdened with several thousand dollars of debts 
contracted in mining operations, he has achieved a great success at 
farming. His herd of cattle has increased to over one hundred head, 
and they are of the best Shorthorn stock, and among which there 
are quite a number of first-class milch cows. His herd of mares, 
young colts, and yearlings numbers upwards of sixty head, and they, 
too, are good stock, for he will have no other. While speaking of 




i^lSlf^iii^^^ 



V I -le'^^ ^ 3f_* 







PLEASANT VIEW FARM. 

some of his accumulations, it may be well to mention that he has a 
fine meadow and breeding farm bordering on the Missouri River, and 
a ferry on a direct road leading to Helena, a large steam saw-mill, 
shingle, lath, and planing mill, well located, the result of his farm. 

The above is the farm as it now is — known as " Pleasant View 
Farm," Missouri Valley, Meagher Co.. Mon. 

Another farmer, in Gallatin Co., Mon., began in a small way 
twenty years ago, gradually enlarging his farm as the sale of his 
crops enabled him to make purchases, until, at the end of ten years, 
his farm embraced six hundred and eighty acres, all of which he 
fenced and divided into mowing-fields and pastures. He put up 
seven miles of fence on his farm. 



664 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

The result of his last ten years' operations is of special interest. 
In 1875 his crop, seventy acres of spring wheat, yielded three thou- 
sand bushels, and from ten acres of oats he threshed six hundred 
bushels. The grasshoppers in 1866 were so numerous that he did 
not put in any crop. He summer-fallowed his land, and devoted his 
time to building his dwelling and making other improvements. In 
1877 he cultivated one hundred acres, raising three thousand eight 
hundred bushels of wheat and about six hundred bushels of oats. 
The grain was invaded by grasshoppers, which reduced the yield 
materially, yet the crop was profitable, as he sold the wheat at a 
dollar a bushel. In 1878 he bought and farmed more land. From 
sixty acres of sod-land he threshed sixteen hundred bushels of wheat, 
while the old land yielded about the same as formerly. The entire 
crop, except oats, which he used for feed, was marketed at one dollar 
per bushel. From one hundred acres of winter wheat raised in 1879 
he threshed three thousand six hundred bushels, and his ten-acre oats 
crop yielded five hundred bushels. The markets were dull that year, 
and he was able to realize only about eighty cents a bushel for wheat. 
In 1880 his crop of one hundred acres of wheat yielded something 
over three thousand eight hundred bushels. His oats crop of a little 
less than twenty acres amounted to eighteen hundred bushels, which 
sold readily at one and a half cents per pound. The wheat crop, 
however, was damaged by frost, and was sold at from fifty cents to 
one dollar per bushel, the crop averaging about seventy-five cents per 
bushel. The year 1881 his farm of one hundred acres, sown and 
raised, yielded three thousand nine hundred bushels of wheat, and 
from ten acres of oats the yield was seven hundred bushels. He 
made flour of the wheat, and sold the same at three dollars per sack. 
The oats he sold at one and a half cents per pound. In 1882, from 
sixty acres of oats he threshed four thousand eight hundred bushels, 
and from fifty acres of wheat he threshed two thousand five hundred 
eighty bushels. The crop of 1883 was eight)--four and one-half acres 
of wheat, which yielded three thousand four hundred bushels, and 
twenty-four and one-half acres of oats threshed seventeen hundred 
bushels. The oats were marketed at a dollar and ten cents per hun- 
dred pounds, and the wheat made into flour is selling at the rate of 
from fifty to eighty-five cents per bushel, which was quite satisfactory 
to the proprietor. 

In addition to farming, the proprietor of this farm, which is now 
known as the "Albino Park Farm," added stock-raising, in a limited 
way, to his enterprise ; and now his farm, horses, and cattle are worth 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



665 



thirty thousand dollars, though he would not sell out for that amount. 
The following cut gives a good view of the farm as it now is. 

Although Montana has fourteen million acres of heavy forest, 
the Territory has sixteen million acres of land suitable for cultiva- 
tion. In 1880 Montana stood at the head of the list, in number of 
bushels of wheat, rye, and oats raised per acre. A bulletin from the 
Agricultural Bureau at Washington showed that in the year 1880 
the total number of acres sown in wheat in the Territory was seven- 
teen thousand six hundred and sixty-five, and the total product was 
four hundred and sixty-nine thousand six hundred and eighty-eight 




ALBINO PARK FARM. 



bushels. This is something over an average of twenty-six and three- 
fourths bushels to the acre. The closest competitors are Washing- 
ton Territory, which averaged twenty-three bushels to the acre, and 
Colorado, which produced twenty-two bushels. Utah only produced 
some sixteen bushels to the acre ; California, fifteen bushels ; Minne- 
sota, between eleven and twelve bushels ; and Ohio, the largest wheat- 
growing State in the Union, but eighteen bushels to the acre. Tests 
also made at Washington by the government authorities have dem- 
onstrated that Montana wheat produces stronger flour, and a larger 
quantity, than any produced by the best wheat-growing districts in 
the Union. To realize, too, the extent of Montana's wheat product 
per acre, it is only necessary to mention that the average per acre 



666 



MARVELS OF THE AEIV llEST. 



throughout the United States is only a fraction over twelve bushels. 
The bulletin showed that in nearly all the cereal products Montana 
averaged a higher number of bushels per acre than the United States, 
as follows : — 



UNITED STATES. 


MONTANA. 


Average per Acre. 


Average per Acre. 


12 bushels. 


26^ bushels. 


lO " 


28 


25 


37 


28 " 


28 



Wiieat 

Rye 

Oats 

Iiulian Corn 

Buckwheat 13 

Barlev 22 



The high northern altitude of Montana does not appear to be un- 
favorable to the rapid and thrifty growth of the cereals. Contrary 
to the ideas of Eastern people, who shiver when they think of dwell- 
ing so far north, the climate and 
rich soil appear to be adapted 
to each other, so that large re- 
ward for light labors is the far- 
mer's experience. 

Robert E. Strahorn, who 
speaks from observation, has 
so much valuable information 
to impart concerning Montana, 
that we quote him at some 
length : — 
"An ex-surveyor-general of the Territory estimates that there is, 
in the more prominent valleys alone, room for thirty-six thousand 
first-class farms of one hundred and sixty acres each, while another is 
of opinion that there is a strictly agricultural domain here greater in 
extent than the entire area of Ohio. . . . 

" Irrigation has generally been considered a necessity, although I 
know of localities in Montana in which from twenty-five to forty 
bushels of wheat to the acre were produced witliout it the past sea- 
son. Thousands of acres of the richest and warmest soils — those 
found high up on bluff and mountain sides — were in 1877 sown with 
fall wheat, and the harvest last year of this grain, produced without 
irrigation, was so bountiful that many farmers who have hitherto 
raised spring wheat exclusively in the valleys, are now resorting to 
the hitherto despised highlands. Snow falls deeper on these alti- 
tudes than in the valleys, and keeps the grain well covered during 
much of the winter. However, the most conservative ensrineers and 




CART SPREADER. 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



667 



others who are thoroughly famiUar with the country, and whose opin- 
ion is entitled to credence, admit that three-fourths of the entire 
agricultural area, or twelve million acres, can be irrigated. The 
thirty thousand acres now in wheat [1881] produce an average of 
twenty-five bushels per acre. Improved cultivation would increase 
this average, as is shown by many farms whose average rarely falls 
below thirty bushels, and often reaches forty bushels, per acre. The 
man of figures can readily see that the production of one hundred 
million bushels of wheat per annum need not be postponed to a 




very distant future in INIontana, if navigable waters reaching from 
her centre to the sea and the railways afford proper avenues to 
market. 

" Ploughing for spring wheat commences in February, and the 
wheat is often sown during the same month. Montana wheat, by a 
recent comparative analysis at St. Louis, takes precedence of Minne- 
sota spring or western winter grades. Oats are frequently raised 
weighing forty-four pounds to the measured bushel. Wheat can be 
raised at fifty cents per bushel, or 1^12.50 per acre, taking the low 
average of twenty-five bushels, and at ordinary prices will net at 



668 



MAR r ELS OF THE NEW J4EST. 



about $14 per acre. Oats can be raised at an expense of $11 per 
acre, and yield a larger profit than wheat. Corn is not produced on 
a very large scale on account of cool nights in moist locations. It 
can be raised at a cost of $7.50, and will return about the same profit 
as wheat. Potatoes can be raised at a cost of $25 per acre, and will 
return a profit of from $75 to $90 per acre. . . . One man can at- 
tend to sixty acres of wheat, which will yield, in the best season, 
three thousand bushels, equal to twelve hundred bags of flour of one 
hundred pounds each, which may ordinarily be calculated to sell for 
three dollars per bag, yielding an aggregate of $3,600. The cost of 
seeds, sowing, irrigation, harvesting, threshing, and flouring will not 
exceed $14. per acre. The producer thus realizes a net income of 
$2,760, or about $46 per acre. 

" Exceptional yields of grain and vegetables are chronicled which, 
to the farmer on artificially fertilized soils in the East, would seem 
simply impossible. At various Territorial fairs, held at Helena, 
samples of wheat yielding sixty to one hundred bushels per acre, of 
barley from seventy-five to one hundred bushels per acre, and of 
potatoes five hundred to six hundred and thirteen bushels per acre, 
have been exhibited, with sworn statements of parties who measured 
the ground and crops. The average yield of wheat is placed by resi- 
dents at thirty bushels per acre, twice as large as that of the great 
wheat State of Minnesota, and nearly three times as large as that of 
Ohio." 

Mr. Strahorn continues : " Following are the names of several 
prominent farmers of different valleys, with size of fields, amount of 
grain threshed, the average yield per acre for one season, and the 
selling price of the crop : — 



...^^>.. 


LOCATION. 


FIELD IN 
ACRES. 


CROP AND YIELD 
IN BUSHELS. 


AVERAGE 
PER ACRE. 
BUSHELS. 


VALUE OF 
CROP. 


A. G. England . . 


Missoula Valley 


160 


Wheat, 


7,000 


43^ 


;^8,400 


.\. G. England . . 


Missoula Vall-ey 


40 


Oats, 


2,000 


50 


1,200 


Robert Vaughn . . 


Sun River Valley 


4 


Oats, 


410 


\02Y, 


246 


M. Stone 


Buoy Valley 


100 


Wheat, 


6,000 


60 


7,200 


Brockway's Ranch 


Yellowstone Valley 


8 


Oats, 


600 


75 


360 


Brigham Reed . . 


C.allatin Valley 


6 


Oats, 


620 


103;^ 


362 


Marion Leverich . 


Gallatin Valley 


23 


Wheat, 


1,150 


50 


1,380 


William Reed . . . 


Prickly Pear Valley 


50 


Oats, 


3.500 


70 


2,100 


Charles Rowe . . . 


Missouri Valley 


237i 


Wheat, \ 
Oats, ) 


1,200 


45 


1,250 


Con Kohrs .... 


Deer Lodge Valley 


II 


Oats, 


1,200 


100 


720 


John Rowe .... 


Gallatin Valley 


85 


Oats, 


4,982 


57 


2,989 


Robert Barnett . . 


Reese Creek Valley 


48 


Wheat, 


2,200 


45f 


2,640 


S. Hall 


Ruby Valley 


400 


Wheat, 


10,000 


50 


11.000 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



669 



Potatoes weighing from two to four pounds are frequently raised 
in Montana ; turnips weighing thirty pounds each ; and rutabagas 
from fifteen to twenty pounds. 

Mr. Strahorn gives the quantity of vegetables raised by the sol- 
diers of Fort Ellis, Gallatin County, in one season, as follows : — 



COMFANV AND 
REGIMENT. 


ACRES. 


POTATOES. 


O.NIO.NS. 


TLRNIPS. 


CARROTS. 


BEETS. 


PARSNIPS. 

1 


CAUIJAGE. 






Bu. 


Bu. 


Bu. 


Bu. 


Bu. 


! Bu. 


Head. 


F, 2d Cavalry . . . 


VA 


1,100 


90 


500 


60 


50 


10 


3,610 


G, " " ... 


5 


550 


60 


60 


35 


^5 


20 


2,500 


H, " 


6 


1,200 


130 


35 


40 


40 


25 


3,300 


L, " 


5 


700 


50 


150 


25 






2,300 


G, 7th Infantry . . 


3 


315 


6 


40 


12 




20 


800 


Total 


26>^ 


3,865 


336 


785 


172 


105 


1 » 


12,500 




■S^:^ 






" General Brisbin states that the value of the several articles, if 
they had to be bought in Montana, would be about as follows : 
Potatoes, $3,865 ; onions, $2,352 ; turnips, $85 ; carrots, $206.40; beets, 
$315 ; parsnips, $225 ; salsify, $9.40; cabbage, $125 ; total, $7,182.80, 
from a twenty-six acre field. Rutabagas raised weighed as high as 
seventeen and one-half pounds each, without the tops. One potato 
weighed four pounds, and another three pounds four ounces." 

In prosecuting agriculture on so large a scale a.: men do in the 
New West, human ingenuity has been taxed to the utmost to invent 
machinery equal to the occasion. The above illustration of the 



6/0 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 



"Drain Improved Automatic Hay Stacker and Gatherer " is one of 
the latest and best inventions. It not only lightens the labors of the 
farmer, and removes drudgery, but it greatly facilitates hay-harvesting 
on bonanza farms. 

Those stockmen who are providing winter feed for their flocks and 
herds find this machine to be a real God-send to them. Without it 
they could not perform the task of putting up sufficient hay to feed 
the multitude of cattle on their ranges. But with it, they can now, 
at small expense, stack sufficient hay to assure good feeding for their 
immense herds in the severest winters. One man and three boys 
and five horses will put up as much hay, with this machine, as ten 
men and six horses could by the old method, and do the work better. 




HufvIE IN DAKOTA. 



One stacker and two gatherers will stack from twenty to thirty 
acres per day ; saving from fifty to seventy-five per cent of the 
expense by the old way. The hay, too, is worth from fifty cents to 
one dollar per ton more that is handled in this way. 

The stacker puts up the hay in a much better manner than it can 
possibly be done by hand ; the hay being thrown in the centre of the 
stack and not over the sides, as is done by hand, so that when the 
stack settles, it leaves the centre the highest. The hay is thrown on 
the stack straight, just as it comes from the mower, so that it sheds 
rain much better than when stacked by the old method. It is esti- 
mated that the price of a stacker and two gatherers is saved in put- 
ting up every seventy tons of hay with this machinery. And many 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 6/ 1 

times its price is often saved in putting up hay from storms. It will 
stack hay in wind when it cannot be stacked with a fork. It is the 
only stacker that will handle hay in windy weather, on account of its 
peculiar construction. It is the only stacker that will not scatter the 
hay for the same reason. The pitcher-teeth are so made that they hold 
the hay from blowing away, and it is not released until the forward 
teeth pass over on the brace on the top of the stacker, when the hay 
is all released together and can fall on no place save on the stick. 

This is the only stacker that is arranged with adjustable pitcher- 
teeth, which is very desirable in topping off, and will enable a party 
to make a stack twenty-five feet high if desirable by pitching from 
the top of the stacker. Ordinarily it makes a stack about seventeen 
feet high without going to this trouble. It is the only mounted 
stacker in the market, and is operated and moved from place to place 
on an ordinary farm wagon. 

Life in all the great agricultural regions of the New West is much 
alike. In the beginning there were hardships and self-denials of 
which the present knows nothing. The contrast between then and 
now is almost incredible ; and it is due to agriculture that the Terri- 
tory has taken such remarkable strides. 

In the first place, Dakota is twice as large as all the New England 
States combined, more than three times the size of New York State, 
four times as large as Ohio, and nearly twice as large as England, 
Wales, and Scotland together. Twenty-four such States as Massa- 
chusetts can be set down upon its vast domain without crowding. If 
it were as densely populated as Great Britain, it would number over 
fifty million people ; if as densely settled as Belgium, it would have a 
population of seventy-two million. Here is an empire in itself. And 
five years ago even, the scanty population of one hundred thirty-five 
thousand one hundred and eighty people produced twelve million 
bushels of wheat in one season. The following year the crop was 
almost double. Since that time a steady stream of settlers has 
poured into the Territory, and the wheat fields have multiplied by the 
thousand, until now the population are looking forward to no distant 
period when tivo hundred million bushels of wheat will be raised in 
one season. 

In 1885 Dakota's exhibit at the Exposition in New Orleans was 
the largest and most remarkable of all the Territorial departments. 
The arrangement was unique ; and the preparation, on so grand a 
scale, denoted that Dakota farmers were confident of success. 

Mr. S. S. Keeler, living about six miles south of Wessington, on 



6;: 



MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 




MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 673 

section 2-1 10-66, has contracted all his crops of this season, the 

figures of which will show for themselves whether or not it pays to 

farm in Dakota. The following is a statement of his whole season's 
work : — 

Breaking 94 acres, @ $3 ^282.00 

Backsetting same 141.00 

47 bushels seed wheat, (^\ ^1.25 58.75 

Seed oats 53.75 

6 pounds of onion seed i3-50 

25 bushels seed potatoes 20.00 

Labor of spring's work, including board, men and horses 180.00 

Expense of harvest i54-00 

Expense of threshing 192.64 

Total ^1,095,64 

Products. 

900 bushels wheat, % %\ ^900.00 

3,000 bushels oats, (n\ 30 cents 900.00 

400 bushels onions, (it, 75 cents ; . . . 300.00 

400 bushels potatoes, (^40 160.00 

Total $2,260.00 

Total expense 1,095.64 

Balance $1,164.34 

Mr. Nichols had one hundred and fifty-six acres in crops as follows : 
wheat, forty ; oats, one hundred and ten ; barley, six. The expenses 
include his own time and that of his sons, so that the result is an 
absolute net. This statement does not include wear and tear of 
machinery, neither does it include breaking, haying, dairy and garden 
produce, or increase of stock : — 

Expenditures. 

29}^ days, seeding, hand and team, @ $4 $117.00 

50 bushels seed wheat, @, $1 50.00 

15 bushels seed barley, (Jo. 50 cents 7.50 

235 bushels seed oats, (Jo, 45 cents I05-75 

16 days, hand and team, harvesting, @/ $5 80.00 

26^ days, shocking, @ $2 53-oo 

16^ days, hand and team, stacking, («) $5 82.50 

i6>^ days, hand, stacking, (Jvi $2 33-00 

70 days' work, threshing, (Ji\ $2. 140.00 

8 days, team, threshing, (Ji. $2. 16.00 

Threshing 217 bushels barley, @ 4 cents 8.68 

Threshing 800 bushels wheat, (n; 5 cents 40.00 

Threshing 5,000 bushels oats, @ 3 cents 150.00 

70 days' backsetting, («', $4 280.00 

260 pounds twine, (i(\ 20 cents 52.00 

Expense of crop $1,214.43 



674 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

Receipts. 

840 bushels wheat by weight, @ 44 cents $369.60 

225 bushels barley by weight, ^'V' 50 cents 1 1 2.50 

6,000 bushels oats by weight, (.n 20 cents i,2co.oo 

Crop brought 51,682.10 

Total expense ' 1,214.43 

Profit S467.67 

Who has not heard of the great " Dalrymple Farm" of Dakota? 
It contains seventy-five thousand acres, thirty thousand of which 
were in wheat last year. The original cost of the land was from 
forty cents to five dollars an acre. The farm has four great divisions, 
all of them under the supervision of Oliver Dalrymple. The four 
great divisions of the farm are subdivided into sections of five thou- 
sand acres with a superintendent for each. Then sections of five 
thousand acres are halved, giving subdivisions of two thousand five 
hundred acres. 

Each division has buildings adapted to the wants of a great farm. 
There is a house for the superintendent, a stable, blacksmith's shop, 
granary, machine-house, and an ample boarding-house for employees. 
The division foreman and gang foreman are mounted, and each one 
superintends twenty teams. 

There are twenty steam-threshers on the farm and over one hun- 
dred self-binding reapers. The horses and mules required amount to 
several hundred ; and there are so many men that they can be profit- 
ably managed only by military rules. Hence, army rules are here 
applied to agriculture ; and the most complete order and systematic 
labor prevails under General Dalrymple. Each season is a campaign 
well-planned and fought to conquer the earth. Mr. Henry Van Dyke, 
Jr., speaks as follows, in Harpa' s Magazine, of his ride over the 
farm : — 

" A little way off we saw a long line of teams pushing slowly 
across the boundless plain. They were ploughing. It wa'' a very 
different sight from that ploughing which we have seen in the steep 
fields of New England, where Johnny steers the old horse carefully 
along the hillsides, and the old man guides the plough as best he 
can through the stony ground ; different, also, from that ploughing 
which Rosa Bonheur has painted so wonderfully in her picture at the 
Luxembourg, in which the French peasant drives his four-in-hand of 
mighty oxen, butting their way through the misty morning air. 
Here on this Western farm there were twelve sulky ploughs, each 
drawn by four mules, moving steadily along a two-mile furrow. The 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 675 

shining blades cut smoothly into the sod, and left a rich black wake 
of virgin earth behind them. As we looked out over the great plain, 
and slowly took in the extent, the fertility, the ease of cultivation, we 
echoed the local brag : ' This is a big country, and don't you forget 
it!' 

" ' Yes,' said Gad, ' that is the trouble : it's too big. I can't get it 
on canvas. A man might as well try to paint a dead calm in mid- 
ocean.' 

" We spent an evening in the comfortable home of one of the 
superintendents, and heard him explain the system of book-keeping. 
Every man is engaged by contract, for a certain time, to do certain 
work, for certain wages. He receives his money on presenting to 
the cashier a»time check certifying the amount and nature of his 
labor. The average price paid to hands is eighteen dollars a month 
and board. In harvest they get two dollars and twenty-five cents a 
day. A record is kept by the foreman of the amount of wheat turned 
out by each thresher, by the driver of each wagon of the amount of 
wheat loaded by him, and by the receiver at the elevator of the 
amount of wheat brought in by each team. All the farm machinery 
and the provisions are bought at first hands for wholesale prices. 
Mules and horses are bought in St. Louis. Wheat is not stacked or 
stored, but shipped to market as rapidly as possible. Everything is 
regulated by an exact system, and this is what makes the farms a 
success. 

" Brains and energy in the man who controls them and in those 
whom he chooses as his subordinate officers — this is the secret of 
the enormous profits which have been made on the Dalrymple farms. 
The cost of raising the first crop is about eleven dollars an acre ; 
each subsequent crop costs eight dollars. The average yield for this 
year was about nineteen bushels to the acre. This could be sold at 
Fargo on Oct. i for eighty cents a bushel. A brief calculation 
will give you four dollars and twenty cents per acre profit on the new 
land, and seven dollars and twenty cents for all the rest ; or, say, 
one hundred thirty thousand dollars gain on one crop. These figures 
I believe to be too small, rather than too large." 

The Moorhead Ncivs said, last season: "Just east and south of 
the city may be seen a continuous field of wheat containing sixteen 
thousand acres, which promises to yield not less than twenty bushels 
per acre. Three hundred and twenty thousand bushels of No. i hard 
from a single field is not bad." 

J. W. Barnum, Esq., a prominent farmer in Sanborn, Dak., spent 



676 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

the winter of 1885 in his old home in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he 
defended his adopted Territory by the following amusing and instruc- 
tive letter to the Eagle : — 

" You will remember the writer as an old resident of the Twenty- 
third Ward during the winter. In the summer he is a North-Dakota 
farmer. Last February you gave an extended report of his lecture 
at our Academy of Music, on bonanza farming in Dakota ; stock- 
raising in Montana, Oregon, and Washington Territory ; the attrac- 
tions to tourists in the Bad Lands, National Yellowstone Park, 
Columbia River, and Puget Sound, — in aid of a 'little Congrega- 
tional church on the hill ' in Dakota, named after our Brooklyn 
Central, Rev. Dr. Behrends. Before we left for Dakota, in July, 
we subscribed for the Daily Eagle, to be sent to Sanborn, Barnes 
County, Dak. For three months you have been * touching us on the 
quick ' by mailing your paper, printed label, to Sanborn, ' Barren ' 
County, instead of Barnes. We said to ourself quietly, ' We will get 
even with the Eagle, on our return home this fall, by bringing 
samples from this "Barren County."' We hand you herewith sam- 
ples of our No. I hard wheat, and your common Long Island Swedish 
yellow turnip, which grows here, in your favored garden patch for 
Brooklyn and New York, about the size of your double fist. This 
sample, as large as we could well bring in our trunk, weighs twelve 
pounds ; there were some which weighed thirty-nine pounds. They 
are solid, crisp, and sweet. Beets twenty-three pounds. Cabbages 
twenty-five pounds. How is that for * Barren' County } Our wheat, 
your millers will tell you, is superior to any grown south of that 
latitude ; indeed, we claim a practical monopoly in raising this variety 
of ' hard ' wheat, as it cannot be raised in perfection south of that 
cold latitude ; when taken south it deteriorates. It is used largely 
in mixing with your soft wheat to grade up your flour. Not only 
wheat and all the cereals, but vegetables and all root crops, ' reach 
perfection there, near the northernmost limit of their production.' 
This is a surprise to nearly all Eastern and Southern people. The 
peculiarity of our ' hard ' spring wheat (rightly named, for you should 
get your teeth insured before you bite it) is its being almost solid 
gluten ; when cut into it looks like a piece of solid glue ; the soft 
wheats, when cut, on the inside are floury or starchy ; the glutinous 
properties are what the millers want to make the best, strong bread- 
making flour. In the recent long report of the Bureau of Chemistry 
of the United States Department of Agriculture, reference is made to 
two thousand seven hundred specimens of wheat analyzed, as well as 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 677 

the flour made from them, and the bread baked from the flour. The 
chemist's comment on this analysis is as follows : 'The Eastern flour 
is poorer in nitrogen and gluten than any of the others. In fact, the 
flours follow closely the composition of the wheat, which has been 
examined from the same parts of the country. Dakota makes a flour 
richer than any other in gluten, in the same way that it produces a 
wheat of that description. The average of these Northwestern spring 
wheat flours is high, and, in comparison with the rest of the country, 
they are the richest which have been analyzed.' 

" When you go to the World's Fair in New Orfeans, Alexander 
McKenzie, the commissioner for Dakota, will show you a pumpkin 
measuring eight feet long, six feet in circumference, and weighing 
one hundred and sixty-eight pounds ; and a squash weighing one 
hundred and fifty pounds ; sweet and Irish potatoes, — three weighed 
thirty-one pounds ; one hundred and one pounds of honey taken from 
one stand of bees, — still ' it is so cold the bee cannot live there.' 
This fair will teach you poor Easterners, who express so much sym- 
pathy for us ('forty degrees below zero'), that we can raise some- 
thing besides blizzards and cyclones in North Dakota. Those who 
take an interest in agricultural development may be sure the Dakota 
exhibit alone will well repay for the trip to New Orleans. We saw 
the Burleigh County exhibit at Bismarck, the capital of the Territory, 
before the long train started on its triumphal march to the Gulf. 
We predict they will repeat their triumph at Minneapolis, over the 
Northwest in 1882 and 1883, carrying off the 'silk banner for the 
best county exhibit.' You will have noted Governor Pierce's latest 
estimate puts the population now at nearly five hundred thousand. 
If you were not so strongly Democratic, we would whisper in your 
ear, will it pay you Democrats, in the long run, to keep us out of 
statehood because we are so largely Republican. Dakota must be 
prominently in the eye of the people, seeking to better their condi- 
tion, as witness how she leads all the States and Territories in the 
amount of Government land sold — six million acres in each of the 
last two years, enough to make three States of the size of Massachu- 
setts. No section of our country is so rapidly developing in popula- 
tion, churches, and schools. There are two thousand school-houses ; 
thirty million bushels is her wheat product this year. Dakota has 
demonstrated within the last two years that its grasses are fnlly as 
nutritious and much more abundant than those of Montana, and 
stock and sheep raising in the near future will equal in value its 
wheat and other cereals. Ninety-two thousand head of young cattle 



678 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

have been brought in, and eighty thousand head of fat beef cattle 
taken out, on one line of railroad during the last year. One writer 
says : — 

" 'It is a misfortune for Dakota that her commissioner cannot 
transport to New Orleans a quarter-section of the best land, to show 
the soil ; and also take down to that Southern clime some real Dakota 
atmosphere, and let them see what a genuine Dakota day is. The 
bracing air here is one of the subjects which call for enthusiasm. 
Mr. McKenzie says that the Territory has been slandered regarding 
its cold weather, for he has lived here all his life, and never saw a 
day so cold that he could not be out most of the time.' " 

Idaho was comparatively unknown until recently. The comple- 
tion of the Oregon Short Line and Utah & Northern Divisions of the 
Union Pacific Railway across the Territory opened it to the world. 
Its name signifies "Gem of the Mountain," which appears, at first, 
like a misnomer to the traveller. But from twelve to fifteen milHon 
of '\ts fifty -five viillion acres are rich and promising ; and, under the 
magic power of irrigation, will prove second to no part of the New 
West in productiveness. Already a tide of immigration is flowing 
into it from every quarter of the globe ; and wealthy syndicates are 
bringing hundreds of thousands of acres under the transforming 
power of irrigation. The record of one of these timely and useful 
organizations is before us, — " The Idaho Land and Water Com- 
pany," which has opened three hundred thousand acres of the richest 
land in the beautiful Snake River Valley, by irrigating canals north 
of Ogden, U.T. To those readers who are shivering at the thought 
of dwelling so far north, let me say that the climate of Idaho resem- 
bles that of California, where all the cereals and fruits grow thrifty. 
In the Snake River Valley " The International Immigrant Union " 
is locating a colony under the most favorable auspices. The com- 
pany locate settlers on eighty, one hundred and si.xty, three huntlred 
and twenty or six hundred forty acre farms, the settler obtaining 
the same from the Government at $1.25 per acre under the "Desert 
Land Act," paying for the same twenty-five cents per acre upon 
filing his or her application, and tlie balance, $i per acre, at the 
end of three years, or before, if water is brought upon the land in 
sufficient quantity to irrigate the same. The company controls the 
waters of the Snake River Water Company, having a carrying capacity 
of one hundred thousand inches of water, which can be increased as 
the demand increases. In order to enable the settler to file the 
necessary affidavit to procure his patent to the land, the company 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 679 

sells to each settler one w more shares in the Canal Company at $10 
a share, thereby making him interested in the irrigation scheme, and 
giving him a contract for all the water required to irrigate his land 
at ^i per acre per annum. The company also makes special arrange- 
ments to convey settlers from New York, Chicago, and Omaha to 
Eagle Rock, the headquarters in Idaho, — four days from New York, 
three days from Chicago, and two days from Omaha. 

It is of great advantage to pioneers to find, such arrangement for 
their reception in Idaho or any other part of the New West. Set- 
tling upon land already under irrigation enables the farmer to com- 
mence work at once without experiment or unnecessary delay. 

The following paragraph from the letter of a tourist will enlighten 
the reader still further upon the climate of that northern latitude : — 

" I was surprised to find on my trip on the 19th of December 
from Eagle Rock through the Snake River Valley not a particle of 
snow; but found farmers busy at work, some ploughing, and others 
building and preparing for spring crops. The weather was very 
similar to that of Northern California, and I feel sure that anything 
that can be grown in California, except semi-tropical fruits, can be 
grown in luistern Idaho." 

The diagram on next page, showing the location of the Snake River 
Water Company's canals and lands of the International Immigrant 
Union capable of irrigation, is furnished that the reader may see hmv 
lOastern capital and enterprise open the most distant agricultural 
lands of our nati(;nal domain to settlement. 

From Mr. Straham's official report we add more facts : — 

"The fourth year's growth of apples in Boise Valley has yielded 
two hundred pounds ; of cherries, seventy-five pounds ; of peaches, 
one hundred and fifty-two pounds ; of pears, one hundred and thirty 
pounds ; of plums, one hundred and fifty pounds ; while small fruits, 
such as strawberries, currants, gooseberries, blackberries, and rasp- 
berries, are very profilic. The growth of wo(k1 made by fruit-trees, 
and the quantity of fruit often found loading the branches, is almost 
incredible. John Lamb, in Boise City, has black locust-trees on 
which I was shown limbs which had grown from twelve to fifteen 
feet in one seastjn ; and plum, peach, and apple trees, two years from 
the graft, full of fruit. In the yard of Governor Neil, at Boise, I 
counted one hundred and forty nearly ripe greengage plums on a 
branch seventeen inches long, the plums averaging one and one-half 
inches in diameter. 

" There is a grand future in store for the Idaho fruit-grower. 



68o MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

Montana to the north, Wyoming on the east, Nevada to the south, 
produce practically no fruit. With her railroads soon reaching the 
remotest corners of these Territories, and with a vast consumption 
at home, Idaho is assured the best fruit markets in the land. Fruit 
can be produced in all her lower valleys, and short-sighted is the 
settler who does not take advantage of the above facts." 




IRRIGATION IN IDAHO. 

"The cereals do almost as well in Idaho as the fruits. Oats 
yield fifty^ve bushels per acre ; wheat, thirty bushels ; rye, twenty- 
five bushels ; potatoes, two hundred and fifty bushels. The truth is, 
Idaho is one of the best grain-producing regions in the United 
States, and in proof of this statement I submit the following official 
table of the yield per acre : — 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



68 1 





WHEAT. 


RVE. 


OATS. 


BARLEY. 


POTATOES. 


CORN. 


Idaho 




25 


55 
31 


40 


250 

95 


35 
30 


Nevada 


12 


California 


17 


15 


30 


23 


114 


34 


Oregon 


21 


14 


31 


23 


95 


Zl 


Eastern States .... 


13 


15 


31 


23 


69 


26 



" In one case fifty-four pounds of wheat were produced from a 
single square rod, being at the rate of one hundred and forty bushels 
to the acre. The wheat produced in this instance has been called 
' Idaho white wheat,' and is thought to be superior. It matures 
from fall to spring sowing ; is white, beardless, and heavy, and pro- 
duces a large proportion of flour. 

"Mr. I. N. Costan, a member of the legislature for many years, 
and one of the most prominent farmers in the Boise Valley, made the 
following statements to me while I wrote them down : — 

" * Last year, 1882, on ten acres of poorest land, with imperfect irri- 
gation, raised forty tons of red-clover hay. Sold seventy-five thou- 
sand pounds (twelve hundred and fifty bushels) of onions from two 
acres. Potatoes only gave two hundred bushels to the acre. Have 
raised one thousand bushels on two acres. Have raised one hundred 
and thirteen bushels of barley on an acre. Wheat from forty to sixty 
bushels ; oats one hundred to one hundred and fifty bushels ; carrots 
and turnips equally good with potatoes. Connecticut flint-corn will 
grow well, especially on the higher benches ; have raised sixty 
bushels to the acre in the bottoms. Prunes, the Germans say, grow 
better than in their own country. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, 
apricots, cherries, etc., as good, if not better, than in the most favored 
spots in California. The elm, soft maple, black-walnut, locust, etc., 
make our best shade trees.' 

" Immediately south of Boise City, Mr. Thomas Davis has an 
orchard of some ten thousand apple-trees, which have produced this 
season an immense quantity of the choicest fruit ever grown in any 
country in the world. The orchard is about twenty years old, and in 
excellent condition, except that the superabundance of the yield this 
year broke down the limbs of some of the younger trees. Since the 
apples began to ripen, men with carts have been constantly engaged 
in gathering the fruit carefully and assorting it for the market. 

"Preparatory to shipment the apples are packed in fifty-pound 



682 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

boxes. They readily find a market in all parts of Idaho and adjoin- 
ing States and Territories. No less than two hundred and fifty 
thousand pounds of this fruit have already been sent by rail to vari- 
ous parts of the Northwest, and Mr. Davis still has as many stored 
away in a three-story building, specially prepared for the purpose, 
on his premises, and shipments continue to be made almost daily. 
Apples boxed and shipped net about $\.2<, per hundred pounds, so 
we may safely calculate that the fruit already disposed of and that 
yet in store will bring Mr. Davis a clear $6,250. Besides this, he 
has one hundred and fifty barrels of vinegar, twenty thousand pounds 
of choice dried apples, and a considerable quantity of pears and cider. 
Altogether this year the net profit derived from this sample orchard 
will reach a handsome $10,000. This is only a sample of what Idaho 
is doing in the way of producing fruit which is everywhere pro- 
nounced of superior quality and delicious flavor." 

The most marvellous things of agriculture, however, belong to 
California, whose "Golden Gate" admits us to even better treasures 
than vaults of gold and silver. Between the two mountain ranges — 
Sierra Nevada and the Coast Range — lies a rich, fertile valley, which 
was once an inland sea. It is forty miles wide, and contains five 
million acres of splendid land. This Sacramento Valley has an aver- 
age annual rainfall from eighteen to twenty inches, and therefore 
yields fair crops, even without irrigation. 

The San Joaquin Valley, which begins at Stockton,- is not less 
fertile than the Sacramento, and contains seven million acres. Add 
to this the foot-hills on each side, and adjacent mountain valleys, and 
here are nearly twenty million acres of the best land in the world for 
cultivation. 

While the average rainfall is sufficient to assure good crops, irri- 
gation has been extensively introduced so as very largely to increase 
production. California is properly called "Cornucopia of the world." 
Grains and fruits of every sort grow luxuriantly, even tropical fruits, 
and harvest-time is a season of wonderful revelations. California is 
a flower-garden, too, where the size and beauty of floral specimens 
defy description. 

The year in California is divided into two seasons, the wet and 
dry. The wet season commences about the middle of October and 
continues until April or May. This is the season for seeding, really 
from September to May, so that the farmer has ample time to put in 
all the seed he desires to plant. It is claimed that one man, with a 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



683 



two-horse team, can put in from two to three hundred acres during 
seeding-time. 

Haying often commences at the close of the wet season, and con- 
tinues, together with harvesting, until September, without a storm 
or shower. No arrangement could possibly be made so convenient 
for California farmers. They produce three times as much to a man 
as do the farmers in any other State of the Union, because of the 
aforesaid arrangement of the seasons. They can labor the year 
round, if they wish, a season for idleness being unnecessary. 

Wheat, barley, and oats are threshed on the field, put up in bags, 
and left there for weeks, without any danger of being wet or of 




CALIFORNIA FARM HOUSE 



sweating \\\ that dry atmosphere The farmer may not possess a 
building for storing his grain, because it is unnecessary in a climate 
where grain can be left safely in the field. Hay is stacked in the 
field, and left there until it is wanted. Potatoes are not injured by 
being left in the ground long after they are fit to be gathered. 

Fruit trees thrive much better in California than in New England. 
Apple-trees begin to bear at three years of age, and the peach at two. 
The plum and cherry tree grow larger, bear much earlier, and their 
fruit is less perishable than kindred fruits in the East. A farmer's 
orchard will have apple, peach, pear, cherry, prune, quince, plum, 
nectarine, pomegranate, fig — not to mention other fruits — growing 



684 MARVELS OF THE XEW J I EST. 

with ?, luxuriance such as is not known in Xew Eny;land. Figs yield 
two crops in a year. With care, strawberries can be produced in 
every month of the year. The orange, lemon, lime, almond, olive, 
English walnut, and apricot flourish finely in Southern California. 
The best raisins in the world come from this locality. 

The growth of fruit and other trees is remarkable. The apricot 
often grows to the size of a forest tree. The eucalyptus, a fine ever- 
green of the New West, has been known to make twenty feet in one 
year. ^ A traveller claims that he saw one eight years old, that was 
seventy-five feet high, and two feet in diameter at the base. In the 
southern part of the State farmers build fences by sticking into the 
ground sticks of willow, sycamore, or cotton-wood, eight feet long. In 
two years the farmer has a substantial fence, and cuts therefrom all 
the firewood his family require. 

Mr. Nordhoff says: "Where nature has done and does so much, 
man gains a quick reward for his efforts. Our costliest and rarest 
greenhouse flowers grow here out of doors all winter, almost without 
care. In the vineyards are planted by the acre the grapes which at 
home are found only in the hot-houses of the wealthy. The soil is 
so fertile that it is a common saying in the great valleys that the 
ground is better after it has yielded two crops than at the first 
ploughing ; and though, as a rule, the farmers in Southern California 
often live in small and mean houses — the climate which permits chil- 
dren to play out of doors without overcoats or shawls for at least 
three hundred and thirty days in the year, and which makes the 
piazza or the neighboring shade-tree pleasanter than a room, in win- 
ter as well as summer — this is because one does not much need a 
house. The dwelling is a less important part of the farm than with 
us. The" climate even in the northern counties does not oblige you 
to have a costly or substantial building ; and while the farnier may 
and does work in the soil in every month of the year, and has thus an 
enormous advantage over his Eastern friend, on the other hand I do 
not exaggerate when I say that what a farmer in Iowa, Minnesota, or 
Kansas must pay out in two years for fuel to keep him and his family 
comfortable in winter, and for the shelter of his cattle from cold, 
would pay his way to California, and. if he chose well, almost buy 
him a farm." 

Mr. Nordhoff adds some interesting facts. " Near Marysville, a 
farmer, finding that his orchard of apples, pears, etc., did not pay as 
well as formerly, bethought him of the castor-bean. He planted sev- 
eral acres as an exjierimental croj). found that his soil was suitable 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



685 











% 






,r 



iff* S" 
ItlljdrW 




I «!;j.?.* 



686 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

for it, anu I saw on his place one hundred acres in castor-oil. The 
plant, which is with us in the East a tender, ornamental shrub, was 
planted and hoed or ploughed like corn, and, when ripe, a press in a 
shed at the edge of the field made the oil. In the East his adventure 
would have needed a solid brick building for his machinery, as well 
as costly drynig and bleaching rooms. Here the oil was bleached 
under a rainless sky, and a shed which could not have cost fifty dol- 
lars, sufficiently protected his engine and press." 

"In the Napa valley a farmer thought hops would pay. He 
planted ten acres, and two crops gave him a handsome little fortune. 
Some years ago farmers within reach of the San Francisco market 
planted cherries ; and I know a man whose cherry orchard, wherein 
Chinese pick the fruit at a trifling expense, has netted him for sev- 
eral years past thirty dollars a tree." 

The following table shows the number of acres in hops, in several 
counties of California, and the increase of 1883 : — 

Old Yards. New Yards. 

Sacramento and Yolo 764 1,062 

Sutter 57 

Lake 130 195 

Mendocino 721 926 

Santa Cruz ... 22 92 

Napa .... 66 25 

Alameda 70 35 

In other districts of California the increase has been about the 
same. 

A newspaper in Mendocino County, Aug. 31 of the same }"car, 
the picking season, said : — 

" Rev. S. L. Sanford finished picking his hops last Wednesday 
morning, and the ten acres yielded forty-six thousand poimds of 
green hops, or an average of one thousand five hundred poinuls to 
the acre. T. J. i^'ine has been running a force of twenty to twenty- 
five pickers in his old field of seven acres, for two weeks, and thinks 
it will take a week or ten days to finish up that one field. The yield 
is simply enormous, and will not be less than two thousand pounds 
dried to the acre. Besides this, he has about eighteen acres of new 
hops to pick. In Redwood Valley everybody is busily engaged, and 
the families have gone right into the fields and camped, and in one 
field there are as many as one liundred ])ickers. . . . Ivstimating the 
yield of tlie one thousand six InuKhed and forty-seven acres of new 
and old fields at one thousand pounds to the acre, Mendocino will 



MAR]' ELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



687 



place upwards of one and a half million pounds on the market this 
season, but what the net proceeds will be to the producer cannot be 
predicted as yet with any degree of assurance. 

The exports by rail and sea during the years 1883, 1884, and 1885 
were as follows : — 





1883. 


1884. 


1885. 


From San Francisco by sea . . . 
From San Francisco by rail . . . 
From the interior by rail 


Pound-s. 

160,167 

2,707,290 

1,914,740 


Pounds. 

183,613 
1,721,040 
1,286,520 


Pounds. 

419,982 
2,458,100 
3,300,350 


Grand Totals 


4,782,197 


3,191.173 


6,178,432 





In other parts of the New West, hop-culture is a very profitable 
industry, especially in Oregon and Washington Territory. The acre- 
age of hops along Puget Sound in 1882 was one thousand acres, pro- 
ducing one million six hundred thousand pounds. In 1883 the 
acreage was doubled — two thousand acres, producing two million 
four hundred 'thousand. The average price at which the hops were 
sold was fifty cents per pound. The highest price was ninety cents 
per pound, and the lowest twenty-seven cents. During the last two 
or three years the price of hops has fallen considerably. 

There is a hop farm in Washington Territory containing three 
hundred acres. 

Ten years ago California did little at raisin-making, except to dry 
a few raisin-grapes, and sell them for "dried grapes." But now 
raisin-making is one of the largest and most profitable industries of 
California ; and these raisins are classed with the best raisins in the 
New York and Boston markets. 

Good land for raisin-culture can be bought in Los Angeles and 
San Bernardino Counties for forty and fifty dollars per acre, though 
it is claimed that at a hundred and twenty-five dollars an acre the 
industry is very profitable. One of the leading raisin-makers of 
the State claims that a vineyard of the raisin-grape, irrigated and 
under careful cultivation, will yield enough grapes the third year to 
pay all the expense of running that year ; and on the fourth year 
will yield a crop that will pay the whole cost of land, planting, and 
culture up to that time, even where the land has cost one hundred 
dollars an acre. He claims that raisins may be raised so as to pay 
one dollar per vine, or five hundred and fifty dollars per acre. 



688 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

A raisin-dealer of Boston wrote to a California raisin-maker as 
follows : — 

" I receive.d your raisins last week, and must say they are far 
ahead of what I expected to receive. I have only seen one quality 
of raisins that surpasses them, and they are what we call the finest 
Dehesia, packed by Campuzana I^rothers. Allow me to make one 
suggestion, and that is, in packing your raisins, especially the finest 
that you have, have the papers made of more colors and better 
finish ; by so doing you will get a better price, and it will also give 
the public an idea that it is the finest fruit packed. One other thing 
I noticed, and that was, the skins are apt to be a little tough, but 
not one person in a thousand would notice it, and in fact, but few 
dealers. The color is all O K, as far as New England trade is con- 
cerned. As to the size of the raisins, they are larger than ninety 
per cent of the imported fruit that comes to this country. I have 
handled raisins for the past ten years, from the cheapest to the finest 
imported, and know what I am talking about. A salesman here that 
has sold goods for the oldest wholesale house in Boston, says these 
raisins are the finest California raisins he ever saw. If you can 
improve on them in any way, I don't see but you have a big thing 
before you, for it is only a matter of time when the California fruit 
will drive the foreign out of the market, and the best brands will 
always be in demand, and of course bring higher prices." 

The Boston Conw^ercial Bulletin says : — 

" California raisins are made from the Malaga grape, and are large 
and of excellent quality, and are acknowledged to be superior to the 
foreign. They are also fresher, as they never have the leathery taste 
given to the foreign raisins by the sea voyage. Vast quantities of 
land are being annually, especially in Southern California, devoted 
to the culture of grapes for raisins, and the growers are constantly 
increasing and improving their facilities for drying and packing. 
They are also introducing a number of Spanish laborers, and will 
thus derive all possible advantages from skilled labor. The grapes 
can be grown so cheaply in California, and the raisin production is 
increasing so rapidly, that, in a few years, possibly in 1885, it is confi- 
dently expected that the California raisins can be laid down in this 
market at $1.25 to ;iS 1.30 for a twenty-four-pound box, at which price 
the foreign raisins cannot compete with them." 

Wine-making, however, is the leading industry of California, and 
grapes are raised for this purpose. The business lias increased 
remarkably within a few years, as manufacturers have become famil- 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 

4\ 



689 




690 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

iar with the improved methods of manufacture. They have wine- 
presses now that will crush from eight to ten tons of grapes in 
an hour ; and wine-casks that will hold three thousand gallons are 
common, while there are some which hold from ten to fourteen 
thousand. Eleven years ago California made less than two million 
gallons of wine. In three years from that time the quantity was 
doubled. Now the annual yield is ten million gallons, and rapidly 
increasing. Yet the business is in its infancy. It is claimed that if 
ten thousand acres should be planted in vineyards annually, it would 
require a century for the State to possess as many vines as have been 
destroyed by phylloxera in France within ten years. 

" Vineyards planted but two and a half years are shown which 
already produce five tons of grapes to the acre. Five years is the 
period required to bring the vines into full bearing. It is estimated 
that an acre of vines arrived at this condition will have cost one 
hundred and twenty-five dollars, allowing fifty dollars as the price of 
the ground. But it is then counted upon for an annual yield of ten 
tons of grapes, and these find a ready sale at twenty dollars a ton. 
The rate of growth in vegetation is one of the important things to 
note. Fruit trees are said to advance as far in three years in this 
earthly paradise as in seven at the Eastern seaboard." 

The production of honey in the New West has become enormous. 
It is in very truth " a flowery land," where bees may revel nearly 
every month of the year in fields of floral wealth unsurpassed. The 
cut on the following page presents a scene on a bee farm in California, 
showing the arrangement of hives, and the general appearance of the 
country in which bees specially thrive. 

Some of the farms, or ranches, of California are of immense pro- 
portions. Mr. Nordhoff givTs some idea of these large posses-sions 
by saying ; — 

" It is a favorite story, that certain men are able to drive a herd 
of cattle from the northern counties of the State to San Diego, at its 
extreme southern limit, and quarter the animals every night upon 
their own territory. Haggin, Carr, and Tevis, whose property I was 
privileged to examine considerably in detail, ha\-e some four Iiiiitdicd 
thousand acres. Much of this was secured for a mere trifle while in 
the condition of waste land, and afterwards redeemed. A neighbor 
who had acquired a great estate of a similar kind, mainly while hold- 
ing the post of surveyor-general of the I'liitcd States, drew ioith one 
of the best bon mots of President Lincoln. 'Let me congratulate 
you,' said Lincoln, as this gentleman was retiring from office under 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



691 



his administration. 'You have become monarch of about all you 
have surveyed.' 

" The owners do not often live upon their estates, but leave them 
in the hands of managers, and draw the revenues. The Haggin, Carr, 
and Tevis property is divided into a number of separate ranches, each 




BEE CULTURE. 



with its resident superintendent. The Bellevue Ranch, so called, is 
the centre and focus of authority for the whole. Here is the resi- 
dence and office of the general manager, and here are assembled 
a force of book-keepers, engineers, and mechanics, who keep the 
accounts, map, plan, supervise, construct, and repair, and give to the 
whole the clock-work regularity of a great commercial enterprise. 



692 MARVELS OF THE N^EIV WEST. 

The numerous buildings constitute a considerable settlement. There 
is a * store ' of general merchandise and supplies. A dormitory and 
a drning-hall have been erected for the laboring hands. A tower-like 
water-tank, surmounted by a windmill, and accommodating a milk- 
room below, rises at one side. There are shops for the mechanics, 
capacious barns, and long sheds filled with an mterminable array of 
agricultural implements. It is worth while to take a walk past this 
collection of reapers, threshers, sulky ploughs, and rakes, and study 
out their uses. The mimense ' header and separator ' rises from the 
rest like some awe-inspiring leviathan of the deep. A whole depart- 
ment is devoted to the 'road scrapers,' 'buck scrapers,' and ploughs 
of various sorts used in the construction and dredging out of the 
irrigating ditches, The soil is fortunately free from stones, and the 
work is for the most part quite easy. One enormous plough is seen 
which was designed to be drawn by sixty yoke of oxen, and to cut at 
once a furrow five feet wide by four deep. Like the famous steam- 
ship Great Eastern, it has defeated itself by pure bulk, and is not 
now m use. 

" More than five hundred thousand dollars has been expended on 
the great estate in the item of fencing alone. An average of four 
hundred laborers is employed, and in the harvest season seven 
hundred. The rate of wages is quoted at from two and a half to 
three dollars per day to mechanics, and one dollar per day to common 
hands. This seems low as compared with information from other 
sources, and that which appears in the chronic complaints of the 
scarcity of farm labor in the California papers." 

Of the orange culture, Mr. Nordhoff says : " The seedling orange- 
tree bears, at twelve years from the planting, an average of one thou- 
sand marketable oranges, and I know of a tree at Riverside which 
bore at thirteen years two thousand two hundred and fifty oranges, 
which brought the owner seventy-four dollars. The following year 
(1880) it bore two thousand fifty. The orange is prone to overbear, 
and this tree had evidently done too much, for in 1881 it had less 
than half this number of oranges on it. 

"They plant from eighty to one hundred trees per acre; and it is 
easy to see that the profits of a bearing orchard, even at the lowest 
prices, are very great. Eighty trees, bearing one thousand oranges 
each, sold at ten dollars per thousand, would yield a gross return of 
eight hundred dollars. Now, one man can cultivate, irrigate, prune, 
and care for twenty acres of any of the citrus fruits, and the picking and 
boxing cost no more than about one dollar and fifty cents per thousand. 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



693 



But at fifteen years old, seedling trees bear two thousand oranges 
each, and the average price is now (1883), and will for many years 
remain, over twenty dollars per thousand. (3ne of the shrewdest 
orchardists at Riverside said to me, 'At half a cent apiece, the 
orange crop would still remain the most profitable a man can grow ' ; 
and he was right. Half a cent each would be five dollars per thou- 
sand ; which for mature trees would still give a gross return of ten 
dollars to the tree, or from eight hundred dollars to one thousand 
dollars per acre, according to the number of trees planted per acre in 
different localities. 










" Such returns seem incredible, even to one on the ground ; and I 
needed, to enable me to realize the practical results, some such state- 
ment as was made to me by one of the most careful and intelligent 
orange cultivators I met, — the owner of twenty acres in a choice 
location. ' Last year my trees paid the whole of my family expenses 
for the year ; that was my first crop. This year I shall make over 
five thousand dollars ; after next year I am planning to take my 
family for six months to Europe, and I expect thereafter to have four 
or five months for travel every year, with sufficient means from my 
twenty acres to go where my wife and children may wish to go.' " 

Alfalfa is Chilian clover introduced into California some twenty 



694 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

years ago, and is now grown profitably in nearly all parts of the New 
West. In California from three to six crops of it are gathered in a 
year, and from one and a half tons to two and a half per acre each 
time it is mowed — the grand total per acre for the year being some- 
what incredible. In Colorado and other parts of the New West, two 
and three crops annually are raised, often two tons to the acre at 
each cutting. 

Alfalfa is a very nutritious grass, excellent for horses that are not 
hard-worked, for milch cows, and even for pigs and fowls. In nearly 
every part of California it keeps green throughout the year. But it 
requires much water, so that irrigation is indispensable. Its roots 
strike deep, much deeper than the clover of New England, making 
an occasional soaking absolutely necessary. Under proper treatment, 
it becomes one of the most remarkable agricultural products. 

Alfalfa appears to grow as thriftily in Idaho as in California, very 
much to the surprise of farmers. A Mr. Payne, near Boise City, 
raised three hundred and sixty tons of alfalfa on sixty acres of land 
(six tons per acre), and one hundred and sixty tons of clover on forty 
acres (four tons per acre). 

Our limited space will allow no further discussion of agriculture 
in California except the addition of miscellaneous facts. 

" An immense land bequest was recently made by a San Francis- 
can. The late James Irvine left to his only son, among other prop- 
erty, one hundred and eighty thousand acres of land in one body in 
Los Angeles County. This large domain Mr. Irvine bought jointly 
with another man in 1857, paying at the rate of thirty-seven and one- 
half cents per acre. In 1875 Mr. Irvine bought out his partner for 
two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He has since been offered 
one million dollars cash for the property. There is a valley of twenty 
thousand acres in the tract, worth one hundred dollars an acre, or 
two million dollars for the valley. Some small farms have been 
carved from this portion and sold at this figure. On the tract is a 
coal mine, which is yielding an unfailing supply of coal of good 
quality for locomotive purposes, and is under lease to representatives 
of the Southern Pacific Company. There are between thirty thou- 
sand and forty thousand sheep and several thousand cattle upon this 
land. The actual cash value of the whole tract is, at a fair estimate, 
about four million dollars." 

"The Los Angeles Herald, speaking of crop jM^ospects in Southern 
California, says the demand for the single article of cabbages is sim- 
ply enormous. Carload after carload of the popular vegetable is being 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 695 

shipped to the Territories and to Texas, and bring a return of at least 
five hundred dollars an acre to those who raise them. All the pros- 
pects for a large fruit crop are fine for the present summer. About 
seventeen million grape-vines will this year yield their luscious fruit, 
while the peach, apple, pear, and apricot crop will be about double 
that of former years." 

In 1886 an olive orchard of fifty acres yielded fifty thousand bottles 
of oil that were sold for one dollar a bottle — fifty thousand dollars 
income from the fifty acres, one thousand dollars per acre ! 

" O. Lockwood, of Compton, has an apple orchard of one thousand 
trees, which has yielded him one thousand dollars' worth of fruit this 
year. Of this, two hundred trees are eight years old, being of differ- 
ent varieties, and eight hundred trees of the white winter pearmains, 
three years old. Of the older trees Mr. Lockwood has sixty which 
have paid him an average of seven dollars each this year. This 
orchard is set out in sandy soil, depth to water being only five feet, 
and the trees have had no irrigation for years. This shows conclu- 
sively that apple culture in South California is a paying industry." 

" Tulare is now making its boasts about a big pumpkin-vine, and 
if the story be true, has the floor against all comers thus far. This 
particular vine attained immense proportions, and a cro]D of eighteen 
pumpkins was gathered from it, weighing from thirty-five to ninety 
pounds, a total weight of one thousand one hundred pounds being 
removed from the single vine." 

" The largest raisin vineyard in the world is owned and operated 
by G. G. Briggs, of Yolo County, containing over one thousand acres 
of the choicest varieties of raisin-grapes. The vines are from two to 
seven years old, and when they come into full bearing, will yield the 
owner a small fortune every year." 

" It is estimated that one hundred and forty thousand acres of 
land in California are planted in vineyard, and that two thousand 
nine hundred and twenty-six persons are engaged in the grape indus- 
try exclusively. Of these, Los Angeles has the largest number, four 
hundred and fourteen persons, while Sonoma has two hundred and 
eighty-eight ; Fresno, two hundred and sixty-four; and San Bernardino, 
two hundred and thirty-seven. The land, with improvements, is esti- 
mated to be worth sixty million dollars, and supports one hundred 
and fifty thousand people." 

Compared with Kansas and other localities, Colorado is not dis- 
tinguished for its agriculture. Yet it is rapidly advancing in this 
line, and in due time will make a grand report. Even now the State 



696 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

ranks high in respect to quality of farm productions and number of 
bushels of wheat and potatoes per acre. An average of twenty 
bushels of wheat and two hundred of potatoes per acre is a good 
showing for the Centennial State, especially when it is known that 
thirty bushels of wheat and five hundred of potatoes are sometimes 
grown uj)on an acre. 

Colorado contains five million acres of agricultural lands, located 
mostly in the valleys of its great rivers. This is but a fraction of its 
immense domain of sixty-six million eight hundred and eighty thou- 
sand acres, it is true ; but then, this small fraction of territory is 
about the size of Massachusetts. It contains quite a number of beau- 
tiful parks in the mountains, with deep, rich soil that rewards irriga- 
tion and industry with a wealth of products. Four of these parks 
are marvellous creations of nature in size, fertility, and beauty. 
North Park contains nine hundred and sixty thousand acres, situated 
nine thousand feet above the sea-level ; enough land to accommodate 
six thousand farmers with one hundred and sixty acres each. And 
these farmers will find it to be exhilarating business to till the soil 
up nine thousand feet towards the sky. Middle Park contains one 
millit)n one hundred and fifty-two thousand acres, about eighty-five 
hundred feet above the sea, — a little lower down, to be sure, but 
sufficiently high to insure bracing air and good digestion. This park 
would give to each of seventy-two hundred farmers one hundred and 
sixty acres. South Park contains one million four hundred and eight 
thousand acres, higher up even than North Park, for it is ninety-five 
hundred feet above the sea. Here eighty-eight hundred farmers 
might find ample room on one hundred and sixty acres each. But 
larger than all the three parks named is the San Luis Park, that 
spreads out far and wide from the base of the marxellous Mount 
Blanca, and contains five million one hundred and twenty thousand 
acres, situated seventy-five hundred feet above the sea. Here is 
enough land to cut up into thirty-two thousand farms of one hundred 
and sixty acres each. The State of Massachusetts could be set down 
within this mammoth park, and leave room for a respectable drive- 
way around it. 

The proprietor of a farm in San Luis Park writes : — 
" Wheat I have threshed forty bushels per acre ; an average crop 
will be about twenty-five or thirty bushels. On good land oats will 
grow six to seven feet high, and seldom lodge as they do in a wet 
climate, the straw growing hard and strong, enabling them to bear 
up the fine, large heads of grain. I have measured some of them 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 697 

twenty-two inches in length, and counted several with two hundred 
and fifty grains to the head. One of my neighbors this season had a 
large field of nearly fifty acres that threshed sixty-eight bushels per 
acre, the land being manured to obtain this result. An average crop 
of oats will be about thirty-five bushels. Barley will thresh as high 
as fifty bushels, an average crop about thirty bushels. Peas I have 
threshed forty bushels per acre ; the same land would not yield over 
twenty-five of oats. That is the great point in favor of peas, as they 
will grow on the very poorest land, and they rather tend to enrich 
instead of to impoverish the land, and one pound of peas is equal to 
one pound of corn to raise pork, or fed to almost any animal ; there- 
fore I say that this valley could raise sufficient pork to supply the 
State, and the day is coming when we shall cure and pack that staple 
article. 

" Some of my potatoes yielded twenty thousand pounds of mar- 
ketable potatoes this season per acre. Cabbage, forty thousand pounds 
per acre, an average crop being about twenty-five thousand pounds. 
An average crop of potatoes is about twelve thousand pounds. I 
weighed a cauliflower the past season, and found its weight to be fif- 
teen pounds, without a leaf. Beets, carrots, parsnips, and onions do 
remarkably well." 

Another farmer in the same park writes : — 

" The first year broke three acres of land ; planted one acre in oats 
and two in potatoes ; latter turned off ten thousand pounds per acre, 
and sold for four cents per pound ; total income first year, eight hun- 
dred dollars. Second year, used same ground and cut eight tons of 
wild hay; income about the same. Third year, cut one hundred tons 
wild hay, which sold for fourteen dollars per ton, and later in season 
brought twenty-two dollars and a half. Have now been on my farm 
for eleven years ; have a good house, barn, and fences, the property 
being worth thirty thousand dollars, on which valuation it pays ten 
per cent per annum." 

Before railroads reached Colorado, many articles of food were 
scarce, and fabulous prices were realized. A single farm cleared 
seventeen thousand dollars for its owner from a crop of potatoes. A 
farmer near Denver planted between two and three hundred acres of 
potatoes, which yielded him fifty thousand bushels, and he sold them 
for fifty thousand dollars. His yield per acre was much smaller than 
that of several Colorado farmers the same year, who raised from five 
hundred to eight hundred bushels per acre, though this was an excep- 
tional yield. 



698 MARVELS OF THE JVEIV IVEST. 

The report of the " Denver Chamber of Commerce and Board of 
Trade" for 1885 report average crops as follows : — 

Wheat, per acre 25 bushels. Corn, per acre 35 bushels. 

Oats, " 45 " Potatoes, " 200 

Barley, " 40 " [ Onions, " 250 " 

The same report says, also : — 

" There are vineyards in the vicinity of Boulder that have for two 
years past produced twelve tons of grapes per acre each season, of 
marketable, luscious fruit, comprising such varieties as the Concord, 
Delaware, Salem, Martha, Brighton, and Catawba, while at Canon 
City and near there, in the Arkansas Valley, thousands of vines are 
producing every year from six to ten tons per acre without fertilizers, 
and not having to be buried in winter. With winter protection, the 
choice European and California grapes can be produced abundantly 
and profitably, such as Black Hamburg, Sweetwater Chasseles, Tokay, 
Missouri, Seedless, Sultana, and Muscats. . . . One orchard near 
Florence has produced eight thousand bushels of apples of fine 
quality in one year. . . . Colorado apples are especially fine as re- 
gards flavor and keeping qualities, and are of good marketable size, 
all of which was demonstrated at the New Orleans Exhibition of 
1885 and 1886, when over one hundred varieties were there shown, 
and captured four out of the twelve first premiums awarded. After 
almost every sample from other States had decayed, and even those 
from Germany and Russia, ours were in good condition." 

Other facts, showing the agricultural marvels of this locality, will 
appear in the sequel, as we pass to the consideration of the subject 
of Irrigation. A few miscellaneous items of interest, however, may 
be added at this point. 

Eastern people suppose that Arizona is a barren and desolate 
region, w^hen actual experiments have proxcd that much of the soil 
is unsurpassed in richness and fertility. In the southern part of the 
Territory the farmer grows two crops a year. Thousands of acres 
have been irrigated and cultivated with remarkable success ; and tens 
of thousands of acres more are waiting for the magic touch of water 
to develop their productive possibilities. Nor is Arizona destitute of 
water ; for several of the finest rivers of the New West traverse its 
territory. The i'ima Indians ha\e raised wheat along the Gila from 
time immemorial, and yet to-day tlie land is as good as new. Within 
two years extensive experiments lia\e been made in the Territ()r\- to 
raise croj^s zuithoitt irrigatiou, and fifteen bushels of wheat to the 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 699 

acre was the result, more than the average per acre in the United 
States. The following facts will be of interest to the reader : — 

" Last year Mr. Isaacs received seven and a half pounds of Early 
Club wheat from the Granger's Bank in San Francisco, which he 
cultivated carefully, dropping it by hand, one grain at a time, from 
which he harvested 2,300 pounds. This season he has forty acres of 
it, which are counted in with balance of crop at 1,500 and 1,600 
pounds per acre. His possessions are: Home place, 400 acres — - 
in alfalfa, 100 acres; eighty acres wheat, 1,500 pounds per acre — 
120,000 pounds ; 140 acres barley, 1,700 pounds per acre — 238,000 
pounds; eight acres oats, 1,500 pounds per acre — 12,000 pounds ; 
garden six acres, 150 fruit-trees, 200 bearing grapes, and three acres 
sorghum. . On place at west end of Grand Canal, farmed by himself 
and J. B. Barton — 650 acres — there are 400 acres wheat, 1,600 
pounds per acre — 640,000 pounds ; 250 acres barley, 1,500 pounds 
per acre — 375,000 pounds. This is the first crop, which is never 
equal to the second or third." 

" M. Meader has 160 acres just north of town, fronting on the 
Prescott road ; has 100 acres in alfalfa and 60 acres in wheat and 
barley — 1,500 pounds per acres — 90,000 pounds ; has 5,000 vines in 
bearing and 500 fruit-trees, also bearing. He cuts alfalfa for hay ; 
next crop will cut for seed and will make 300 pounds per acre, which 
will be worth ten cents per pound wholesale. This will make $3,000 
for this one crop. Four crops of hay at two tons per acre per crop — 
800 tons — which, at eight dollars per ton in stack, will make $6,400, 
or $9,400 for the 100 acres in this useful plant. Place is all under 
fence ; five strands of barbed wire, making it hog-tight ; cottonwood 
posts all growing." 

"John B. Montgomery has 287 acres, highly improved, adjoining 
town on the south. He has 125 acres in alfalfa and raised 50 acres 
of wheat and barley. He has a splendid orchard of choice fruit; 
1,000 trees, all told, old and young. They range from three to five 
years old. He has 1,000 grape-vines in bearing. Had ripe pears the 
15th of June, and his summer apples were gone a long time ago. He 
has a dairy of fifty cows, fine stock, breeding nothing but the best. 
He has a fine Durham bull, imported, whose blood tells in the young 
stock we saw around the place." 

We can add only the following facts : — 

"The books of one of Wyoming Territory dairymen, which may 
be essentially duplicated by scores, show the following for one 
year : — 



700 MARVELS OF THE JVEIV WEST. 

Ranch, site, buildings, etc $1,200 

50 cows at 340; 2 sires at $75 2,150 

Two assistants, wages and board 960 

50 tons of hay at $6 300 

Minor expenses 200 

$4,810 

14,000 pounds butter at 40 cents $5,600 

12,000 gallons milk at 30 cents 600 

34 calves sold at $10 340 

Total $6,540 

Less expenses 4,810 

Profit one year $i,730 

"That her soil, climate, and grass render Wyoming peculiarly 
adapted to the raising of stock, is asserted by those who have tried 
it, or have noted the similarity of general conditions to some place of 
established reputation of years as a stock country, and is moreover 
shown by actual figures. Wyoming pasturage consists of fifty-five 
thousand square miles upon which cattle subsist the year round, with 
twenty-five thousand square miles additional, which is unexcelled in 
summer, while sheltered valleys offer an ever-ready protection to 
stock in time of storms. 

" It has been proven that the cereals, vegetables, and small fruits 
can be raised with uniform success and at magnificent profits. The 
area capable of this production includes thirteen million acres, con- 
taining these very elements, in constantly renewing quantities, the 
lack of which the Eastern farmer must supply by plaster of paris, 
bonedust, etc." 

A resident of Washington Tcrricory writes : — 

" It has been told abroad that we cannot raise fruit in this section 
of country, that we are too far north. As a contradiction to this, we 
state that within twelve miles of this city there are a dozen orchards, 
all thrifty and bearing. We can give the names of more than fifty 
farmers who this year have bought young trees, with which to start 
orchards. Mr. H. N. Muzzy,, a mile from town north, has this season 
set out one thousand apple and two hundred other trees. 

" The best contradiction to the assertion that we are too far north, 
is in the fact that John Rickey, who lives eighty miles north of 
Spokane Falls, has a large orchard, and last season produced a large 
quantity of splendid fruit. And still further, there are here on exhi- 
bition a few apples forwarded by Judge Labrie, from the seven hun- 
dred trees' orchard of F. R. Smith, who lives within a mile of the 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



701 



fort3^-ninth parallel, and near Okanagan Lake, a long journey to the 
north and west of Spokane Falls. These apples are not very large 
and sound, but of excellent flavor, equal to any fruit produced in 
Indiana, Ohio, or New York. Mr. Smith had plenty of peaches, 
plums, pears, and melons during last season. 

" R. G. Williamson, who came from Kansas five years ago, has oper- 
ated a farm five miles east of this place, taking land that was supposed 
to be almost worthless, has been marketing gooseberries for four 
years, has cherry-trees two years old, bearing fruit, and oeach-trees 




LOGGING NEAR OLYMPiA. 



in bloom the second year from the planting of the pit. He has prunes, 
plums, apples, and currants, and has been more fortunate with these 
fruits here than he was in Kansas. He gives us the names of half-a- 
dozen neighbors who have been equally fortunate in this respect." 

The scene represented above is in the woods, near Olympia, 
Washington Territory. The most magnificent forests of fir abound 
in this region, many of them so enormous in bulk as to suggest the 
"big trees " of Yosemite. This lumber region furnishes a large part 
of the commerce of Puget Sound, and the lumber business has grown 
into immense proportions. This fir-tree is found in Oregon as well 



702 



MARVELS OF THE NEIV WEST. 



as Washington. Nothing but the expense of carrying lumber around 
Cape Horn to foreign countries prevents a vast amount being trans- 
ported thither. When the Eads' plan of crossing the Isthmus shall 
be consummated, the most profitable and largest business of Oregon 
and Washington will be that of lumber. 

It is not our purpose to present a view of salmon-fishing on the 
Columbia River, — one of the most remarkable industries of the New 
West. But since the preceding illustration presents a great mdustry 
of this region, we present one cut to represent the fish-wheel that is 
used upon that river in the prosecution of a business which is done 
for the world ; for its products extend to every land and sea. 




IRRKx.ATION. 



We have made frequent reference to irrigation in different parts of 
the New West. Eastern farmers pity the Western farmers, because 
they are made dependent upon artificial means to supply water ; and 
Western farmers pity the Eastern, because they must depend upon 
the uncertain supply of water from the clouds. That the farmers of 
the New West have the advantage there can be no question. They 
can command water when they want it. If God wore to give the 
Eastern farmer control of showers and storms, so that by easy act he 
could bring a shower or storm at his will, he would stand in about 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 



703 



the same relation to a good supply of water that the Rocky Mountain 
farmer does. The latter defies a drought. He knows that the driest 
weather will not dry up his crops. The advantage of this arrange- 
ment is enforced by the fact that one-fourth of* all the crops of the 
world, on the average, are destroyed by droughts: There are four 
million acres in Colorado and New Mexico watered only by rahis, 
and they offer poor inducements to men to engage in agriculture. 
But irrigation removes this insuperable obstacle, and causes sage-bush 
land to yield like a garden. 

Originally one farmer 
alone, or several unitedly, 
met the expense of irriga- 
tion. But now large com- 
panies are organized to 
make money by selling- 
water to farmers. Also 
large companies buy im- 
mense tracts of land, and 
when they have brought it 
under irrigation, cut it up 
into farms for sale. Sonu' 
facts that follow will in- 
terest the reader in this 
subject of irrigation. 

A writer says : " Irriga- 
tion is simply scientific 
farming. The tiller of the 
soil is not left at the mercy 
of fortuitous rains. His 
capital and labor are not 
risked upon an adventure. 

He can plan with all the certainty and confidence of a mechanic. He 
IS a chemist, whose laboratory is a certain area of land ; everything 
but the water is at hand, — the bright sun, the potash and other min- 
eral ingredients (not washed out of the soil by centuries of rain). 
His climate secures him always from an excess of moisture, and 
what nature fails to yield, greater or less, according to the season, the 
farmer supplies from his irrigating canal, and with it he introduces, 
without other labor, the most valuable fertilizing ingredients, with 
which the water, in its course through the mountains, has become 
charsied." 




IRRIGATING 



704 



mari-^:ls of the xew west. 



A writer in Kansas describes an irrigating ditch as follows : — 
" Last week I visited Spearville, and called at the camp of the 
Irrigating Ditch Company ; I was kindly instructed in regard to the 
project by John Gilbert, of that city, who has the work in charge. 
The ditch begins above Cimarron, passes just north of Spearville, 
and re-enters the Arkansas at Kinsley. It is ninety-five miles long, 
forty-five feet wide, and twelve feet deep. The main ditch is now 
completed, and they are at work on the side ditches. It has a 
capacity to carry water for one-half million acres. 




METHOD OF IRRIGATING. 



"They haA'e seven ditch-ploughs, which are quite a contrivance. 
The plough is set in a heavy frame, and throws the dirt on a heavy 
canvas, twenty-two feet long, which can be set at any angle, and 
thus carry the dirt from the bottom of the ditch to the top of the 
embankment. It is propelled by twelve horses, — eight in front and 
four behind, — and requires three men to operate it — two to drive 
and one to attend to the machinery. Each plough costs one thousand 
dollars. There are eight hundred thousand dollars in stock in the 
company now, and Dr. Soule, the proprietor of Hop Bitters, is ad- 
vancing most of the capital. He is said to be worth millions, which 
he has made out of the above-mentioned medicine ; so that if the 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 705 

ditch proves a success, as it probably will, it may be truthfully said 
that Southwestern Kansas is irrigated with Hop Bitters." 

" The method of applying water to fields is illustrated by the 
above sketch, showing the main canal, the lateral taken out of it, and 
the small distributing laterals running through the various fields. 
This is the flooding system, which is generally practised by Colorado 
farmers. The distributing laterals are simply cut by a hoe or spade, 
and the water allowed to flow out and spread over the surface as far 
as it will go and sink as deep as may be necessary to give the required 
moisture to the roots of the growing grain. It will be seen that one 
man can look after the distribution of water over a large area by this 
crude but effectual method, since the main lateral is sufficiently large 
to supply a number of distributing ones that directly reach the grow- 
ing grain, which is generally sown in drills. When the field is suffi- 
ciently watered the cuts are closed up by throwing a shovelful of dirt 
against the gap, and the water allowed to flow to a different part of 
the field ; and so on, until the whole field is irrigated. 

" There is another method, used when corn or potatoes or other 
crops are growing ; it is called the furrow method, the water follow- 
ing the hollow between the rows made by throwing the soil on either 
side with a shovel-plough. The water seeps down and sideways, 
readily reaching the roots to be benefited by it. This method is also 
adopted in orchards and vineyards, as well as small fruit gardens." 

We have spoken of San Luis Park, and its deep, rich soil. The 
State Land, No. 2, Canal Company has opened one hundred twenty- 
five thousand acres of land in that park by bringing it under irriga- 
tion. The following picture shows the headgate. 

Other irrigating companies bring other thousands of acres of land 
in this wonderful park into the market. Farmers can purchase the 
best of land here, as much or little as they want, at very low figures, 
all well-watered, and waiting "to be tickled with a hoe." 

Colorado has more than one thousand miles of irrigating canals 
and ditches, which can water well one million five hundred thousand 
acres. These lands can be purchased for from one dollar twenty-five 
cents to two dollars fifty cents per acre, the latter being the Govern- 
ment price for lands where there is a railroad land grant. The large 
canal corporations of the State control three hundred thousand acres 
which they offer for sale at from four to fifteen dollars per acre 
according to location. 

The rainfall in Colorado is about fourteen inches for the year, 
which is insufficient, of course, for agricultural purposes. For expe- 



7o6 



M ARTELS OF THE AEIV 11 EST. 



rience has proved that the amount of water necessary during the 
cropping season when irrigation is required, is equivalent to thirty 
inches deep upon the land if it were applied all at once ; or that one 
cubic foot per second flowing night and day for one hundred days 
will irrigate eighty acres of land. Moreover, this water from the 
mountains contains a natural fertilizer peculiar to itself, which con- 
stantly enriches the soil. 

The two large irrigating companies of Colorado are the Loan and 
Trust Company, and the Platte Land Company. The first has con- 
structed ten large canals, — one of them, the Del Xortc, the largest 
in the world. The principal canal is one hundred feet wide, and has 
fifty-six miles of constructed channel, and ninety miles of the Sag- 




wache branch canal included. It delivers two thousand five hundred 
cubic feet of water per second, or one billion six hundred twenty 
million gallons every twenty-four hours. There were one million 
seven hundred fifty thousand cubic yards of gravel, rock, and earth 
excavated from the channel, requiring an army of three thousand five 
hundred men and two thousand teams to perform the great work. 
The largest canal in Italy — the Naviglio Grande — is but half as 
large as the Del Norte, and cost twelve million dollars. 

The "Big Greeley Ditch," as it is called, is on the north side of 
the Cache la Poudre River. It is thirty-six miles long, with three 
to three and one-half feet depth of water, and is twenty-five feet wide 
on the bottom at its head, diminishing to fifteen feet at Greeley. 



MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 707 

Its fall is from two and a half to three and a half feet per mile. The 
cost of this irrigating canal was sixty-six thousand dollars. Another 
ditch, on the south of the river, is eleven miles long, and twelve feet 
wide at the bottom, with two and one-half feet depth of water. 

Tree-culture increases rapidly in California and other parts of the 
New West, by irrigation ; and its profits, as we have seen, are some- 
what marvellous. The next illustration shows the process of irri- 
gating trees, which is usually done but three or four times during 
the season. Rev. Robert Strong, of Westminster, Cal, gathered 
eight hundred pounds of apples from one Rhode Island Greening 
tree, which he sold for sixteen dollars. One ranch in Los Angeles 
County has sixteen thousand orange and lemon trees, two thousand 
pomegranates, three thousand English walnut, five thousand almond, 
three thousand peach, four thousand pear, two thousand apricot, one 
thousand fig, with twelve hundred acres in grape-vines, — all under 
a complete system of irrigation. 

A new method of irrigation has been introduced into Southern 
California, called " underground irrigation." A writer describes it 
as follows : — 

" We have spoken now only of surface irrigation. Where water 
is scarce, as in some of the extreme southern counties, or where there 
is more good land than can be well irrigated from the streams by 
surface irrigation, a system of underground irrigation has been 
adopted. 

"It should perhaps be explained, for the benefit of those' who have 
always lived in a wet country, that when water is run over the soil 
under a very dry atmosphere and a cloudless sky, evaporation is very 
great ; so great, indeed, that when water is scarce it becomes an 
object to prevent this evaporation, and thus secure all the benefit 
of all the water for the use of the growing crop. 

"To meet this want an underground system of irrigation by per- 
forated pipes has been invented and put in use, and is proving of 
immense benefit. The pipe is now generally made of concrete. The 
ditches are dug (say) fifteen to twenty feet apart over the field, or in 
the middle of the space between the rows of trees in an orchard, and 
by a machine having a feeding hopper, the concrete, ready mixed, is 
fed into the hopper, and the machine converts it into the required 
size pipe, and at the same time moves along in the ditch, leaving the 
pipe behind it. The same machinery perforates the pipe, so that 
the water is let out of it in quantities required, the pipe being from 
one and a half to three feet below the surface. 



-o8 



MARVELS OF J HE AEIT llEST. 




MARVELS OF AGRICULTURE. 709 

The cost of irrigation and amount of water necessary to be applied 
to an acre depends upon the method by which water is applied (four 
methods are used in the New West), the nature of the soil, and the 
kind of crop. The cost of water per acre in Colorado, by flooding, 
is from a dollar and a half to three dollars per acre. 

The check system prevails in California and New Mexico in 
applying water, and a cubic foot of water is made to irrigate seventy 
acres, while by flooding, a cubic foot of water will irrigate but sixty 
acres. By the check system the land is divided into squares by 
ridges, into one of which the water is admitted and allowed to run 
until it is completely covered. Then the water is conducted into the 
adjoining square by cutting a small channel through the ridge. This 
system requires some labor, but decided economy in the use of water 
is gained. 

Artesian wells have served a good purpose in irrigating the land, 
not only in California, but in other parts of the New West, also. 
In 1882 twelve artesian wells were sunk in Tulare County, Cal., 
resulting in a complete revolution in agriculture. These wells flowed 
nearly one million five hundred thousand gallons daily ; and the 
desert lands were converted into wheat-fields, vineyards, and orchards 
of wonderful thrift. Similar wells with similar results have been 
multiplied in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada. 

We add only the following facts concerning irrigation in Western 
Kansas : — 

" Now, a word or two as to what has been done. Last year one 
farmer sold one thousand three hundred dollars' worth of onions and 
sweet potatoes from four acres. He irrigated the ground four times. 
Another man harvested ten acres of oats, which he irrigated three 
times. He got an average of a little over sixty bushels per acre, 
weighing forty pounds to the bushel. Another farmer had in eight 
acres of oats ; watered six acres three times and the other two acres 
not at all, and got an average of sixty-six bushels to the acre. One 
man raised five hundred bushels of onions on one and one-sixteenth 
acres. Still another harvested nine tons per acre from five acres of 
alfalfa, cutting it three times during the summer. The last cutting 
was after the grass had gone to seed. It yielded twenty-one bushels 
of seed per acre. Two miles west of town, Squire Worrel has a fine 
orchard. Other farmers have done well with fruit. From such 
figures the reader may get some idea of what can be accomplished 
by irrigation." 



7IO MARVELS OF THE XEW WEST. 



CONCLUSION. 



We have caught a glimpse of the Xew West. Compared with 
the aggregate reahties of the wonderful regions, it is only a glimpse. 
We have seen enough, however, to satisfy us that it is a veritable 
"Wonderland," as crowded with opportunities as it is with mar- 
vels. Men live rapidly here — a whole month in one day, a whole 
year in a month. Some have lived a hundred years in the twenty- 
five or thirty they have spent here. They have seen an empire rise 
and grow rich and powerful in that. time. The changes wrought 
under their own eyes have been almost as startling as transforma- 
tions under the wand of a magician, — such strides of progress as 
usually exist only in dreams. It seems as if God had concentrated 
His wisdom and power upon this part of our country, to make it His 
crowning work of modern civilization on this Western Continent. 
For its history is Providence illustrated, — God in the affairs of men 
to exhibit the grandeur of human enterprise and the glory of human 
achievement. 

When sojourning on the Pacific Slope, bewildered by its marvels, 
the question arose. Why did the settlement of our country begin in 
the East instead of in the West } Why did the " Pilgrim Fathers " 
land on the coast of New England instead of the coast of California } 
Why seek their fortunes among the rocks of Plymouth instead of the 
gold mines of the Pacific coast .' The same hand that guided them to 
the " rock-bound shores " of the Atlantic might have led them to the 
"gold-fretted shores" of the Pacific. There is no solution to the 
problem except in the wonder-working Providence of God. On this 
continent was to be built up the largest, richest, most intelligent, and 
powerful Christian nation on earth. A fearless, self-sacrificing, intel- 
ligent, hardy Christian race, disciplined by perils and hardships inde- 
scribable, could alone lay the foundations and work out the grand 
problem. Hence, rocks were better for them than nuggets of gold. 
A soil that would yield bread enough to keep the wolf of hunger 
from the door only by constant " sweat of the brow " was indispensa- 
ble, rather than a soil that would yield the necessaries of life and 
luxuries of the tropics in profusion, with little care and labor. Noth- 
ing but hunger and nakedness forced them to plunge still further into 
the wilderness, as the population increased, at the risk of being 
devoured by wild beasts or slain by savages. Beset with troubles 
on every side, and harassed by dangers that required the stoutest 
courage to meet, the higher and noble attributes of humanity were 



CONCLUSION. Jll 

forced to the front, as, from generation to generation, " westward the 
star of empire took its way." 

Had the Pilgrims landed at San Francisco instead of Plymouth, 
and the treasure-vaults of California been opened by their enterprise, 
as they opened to their descendants in 1848, doubtless the race would 
have been enervated by the luxury, extravagance, and ease which 
usually succeed sudden transition from poverty to wealth. Finding 
a rich soil that yielded sixty and a hundred fold with a quarter part 
of the labor required to secure a scanty subsistence on the coast of 
New England, the goading incentive to work or starve would have 
been removed, followed by idleness, prodigality, and effeminacy. 
Not being forced to push out into the wilderness, further and further, 
to obtain the means of living, it is doubtful if New England would 
have been settled to-day. For, with every factor in the problem of 
creating and building up a great Christian nation, beginning at the 
East, favoring the purpose, generations lived and died before the 
occupation of the New West was thought to be possible ; and not 
until within forty years did the children of the Pilgrim P'athers set 
themselves to work to complete their empire by transforming the 
Western wilderness into a capstone of gold. 

Reverse the opportunity ; begin the experiment at the West in- 
stead of the East ; supply gold for granite, and a rich for a barren 
soil ; let plenty take the place of poverty, and men command the 
means of a livelihood without stress of plan or labor ; and what rea- 
son have we to believe that they would have left the PZldorado dis- 
covered, and penetrated the wilderness, crossing the Missouri and 
Mississippi rivers and the "Great Lakes," felling vast forests, build- 
ing towns and cities by Herculean labors, and finally reaching the 
Atlantic coast to make the New England of to-day t Such a result 
is not supposable. All the conditions indicate that in the Divine 
Plan it was absolutely necessary to lay the foundations in granite 
that the superstructure might be finished in gold. Neither science, 
art, learning, or religion was competent to handle such marvellous 
wealth as lay concealed within the domain of the New West. When 
" the fulness of time " came, religion and learning, science and art, 
commerce and enterprise, had multiplied their institutions and power 
so wonderfully, that they could employ the millions and billions of 
wealth marvellously evolved to lift up humanity, and contribute to 
the more rapid growth of a model Christian civilization. Such a use 
of treasure was impossible two hundred years ago. 

Andrew Carnegie, a native of Great Britain, but an adopted son 



712 MARVELS OF THE NEW llEST. 

of the United States, opens his very able and valuable work, " Tri- 
umphant Democracy," with the following paragraph : — 

" The old nations of the earth creep on at a snail's pace ; the 
Republic thunders past with the rush of the express. The United 
States, the growth of a single century, has already reached the fore- 
most rank among nations, and is destined soon to out-distance all 
others in the race. In population, in wealth, in annual saving, and 
in public credit, in freedom from debt, in agriculture, and in manufac- 
tures, America already leads the civilized world. 

" France, with her fertile plains and sunny skies, requires a hun- 
dred and sixty years to grow two Frenchmen where one grew before. 
Great Britain, whose rate of increase is greater than that of any other 
European nation, takes seventy years to double her population. The 
Republic has repeatedly doubled hers in twenty-five years." 

He closes his remarkable volume by the following statements 
among many others : — 

"The wealthiest nation in the world." 

"The nation first in public credit and in payment of debt." 

"The greatest agricultural nation in the world." 

"The greatest mining nation in the world." 

But the New West has made this result possible. Its mines, farms, 
flocks, and herds, and exceptionable enterprise contribute enough to 
the Republic's grand total of possessions to make these statements 
indisputable. The United States incurred a debt of three billion 
dollars in self-defence against the slaveholders' rebellion, and the riches 
of the New West has enabled the government to liquidate more than 
half of it already ; and the time is near when the last dollar of it will 
be paid because of the great wealth that is stored in Western vaults. 
Devote to the liquidation of the national debt the annual product of 
the mines between the Missouri River and the Pacific coast, and in 
less than ten years the debt would be extinguished. Or, devote the 
vast annual income of the cattle-ranches, which cover so large a por- 
tion of this great domain, to the same purpose, and in an equally 
brief period our national liabilities would wholly disappear. Or, 
annually appropriate the aggregate profits of agriculture and com- 
merce within this large and booming territory to the removal of this 
burden of indebtedness, and in less time than we have named the 
nation would witness its extinguishment, and celebrate the occasion 
with bonfires and illuminations. 

The author of " Triumphant Democracy " says, again : " Why does 
the credit of this new Republic stand higher than that of old England ^ 



CONCL US ION. 7 1 3 

Why would the world lend this young Democracy more money and 
upon better terms than it would lend the old monarchy ? Why does 
the world pay for American three per cents more than it will pay for 
the British three per cents ? The answer is obvious. Because the 
reign of the whole of the people of a state is more secure than the 
reign of any class in a state can possibly be. A class may be upset, 
nay, is sure to be sooner or later ; the people are forever and ever in 
power." 

Then the writer goes on to multiply telling facts, and finally 
adds : " The answer to doubters of the stability of Democracy, like 
Sir Henry Maine, is here: December, 1885, — 

"Republican three per cents, 103-I. 

" Monarchial three per cents, 99^^. 

"Were the consuls of America perpetual, like those of Britain, 
and not redeemable at a fixed date, their value would be still higher. 

" It has been the boast, one of the many proud boasts, of the 
parent land, that her institutions were stable as the rock, as proved 
by her consuls, which stood pre-eminent throughout the world. Now 
comes her Republican child, and plucks from her queenly head the 
golden round of public credit as hers of right, and places it upon her 
own fair brow. It has been my privilege to claim victories for tri- 
umphant Democracy, but surely the world will join me in saying 
none is more surprising than this, that its public credit stands before 
that of Great Britain and first in all the world." 

This is a flattering tribute to our country, of which the New 
West may not be diffident to claim its share. For this remarkable 
consummation of public affairs, especially the financial triumphs, 
could not have been reached in the present century but for the set- 
tlement and development of this marvellous country. And still 
more in the future than in the past, will the expanding resources of 
the New West exalt the national credit, until the Republic shall be 
as widely known for its population of a thousand millions as for its 
fabulous wealth. 

These facts indicate that the New West will decide the destiny of 
our land, and that, too, on the line of unparallelled growth and pros- 
perity. Perils beset this portion of our country, it is true, perils of 
such fearful magnitude as to awaken alarm ; but this is God's battle, 
in which " one will chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to 
flight." But for this unassailable truth the Republic would not 
stand at the head of nations in wealth and population, or anything 
else, to-day. Yxom the outset this is what the world has witnessed 



714 MARVELS OF THE NEW WEST. 

on this Western Continent, — " two putting ten thousand to flight." 
And this must continue, if the Divine Plan is to build up a mighty- 
Christian nation here, until the Republic stands complete in its 
beauty and glory. If the New West shall fail of the achievements 
predicted, the Republic will fail to maintain its advanced rank among 
the nations ; and if the Republic fails, mankind will fail also. The 
prediction that the unprecedented mixture of nationalities in the New 
West will compromise, and possibly destroy, its noblest institutions, 
will not be fulfilled, since the manifest drift of affairs is to the absorp- 
tion of all other races by the Anglo-Saxons, who now control the 
destiny of the human family. This English-speaking portion of man- 
kind never even nods to foreign tongues, but the latter are con- 
stantly being absorbed by the former. We have an amusing jargon 
of languages now ; but the time is coming when the French, Ger- 
man, Irish, Spanish, and every other nationality will join our Eng- 
lish-speaking people, and we shall have but one tongue spoken from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific, and from the Lakes to the Gulf. Besides, 
the representatives of these many nations in the New West are the 
most intelligent, enterprising, and industrious of their countrymen. 
Comparatively few tramps and worthless characters are among them. 
The mass of them emigrate thither for homes and a livelihood, and 
multitudes become farmers, scattered over the States and Territories 
under circumstances peculiarly favorable to the development of good 
citizenship. Nor can we disprove Herbert Spencer's prediction that 
this conglomeration of races will result in a higher type of manhood 
than now appears upon the continent. Mr. Spencer says : — 

" From biological truths it may be inferred that the eventual mix- 
ture of the allied varieties of the Aryan race forming the population 
will produce a finer type of man than has hitherto existed, and a type 
of man more plastic, more adaptable, more capable of undergoing the 
modifications needful for complete social life. I think that, whatever 
difficulties they may have to surmount, and whatever tribulations 
they may have to pass through, the Americans may reasonably look 
forward to a time when they will have produced a civilization grander 
than any the world has known." Our hope and expectation is that 
Herbert Spencer will turn out a true prophet. 

The liquor traffic is "the gigantic crime of crimes" in the New 
West, a^ it is in the East ; and yet, in its centres of population, it is 
divested of some of the frightful characteristics which make it so 
horrible to contemplate in Boston, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, 
and St. Louis. The intelligence, enterprise, and Christian principle 



CONCLUSION. . 715 

there are opposed to the traffic. Ah-eady Kansas has led the way to 
a Constitutional Amendment, forever prohibiting the manufacture 
and sale of intoxicating beverages within its limits, and the States of 
the East are fast copying its example. So that, in the solution of 
the liquor problem, it appears to many that deliverance for the East 
is to come from the New West. The very favorable results of the 
experiment in Kansas, ridding the commonwealth of the most dan- 
gerous class of citizens, inviting a better and nobler class of immi- 
grants to settle there, where the curse of the traffic does not rest as 
a pall upon every industry, increasing population, wealth, and busi- 
ness to an unprecedented degree, will demonstrate to every State 
and Territory further west the practicability and absolute necessity 
of stamping out a trade that is "the dynamite of modern civiliza- 
tion." It is probable that, earlier than in many parts of the East, 
the New West will put the liquor traffic under the ban of prohibitive 
legislation, thereby removing one of the greatest barriers to its thrift 
and triumph. 

Romanism, Mormonism, Socialism, Skepticism, and Atheism are 
mighty obstacles to the rise and progress of our Western domain ; 
but the holy trinity of Liberty, Education, and Christianity, in which 
the Anglo-Saxon race believe, will prove more than a match for them 
all in the future conflict for supremacy. This race has laid the foun- 
dation of our Western empire, and started it off in a career of unex- 
ampled prosperity ; and its grip upon the masses will not be relaxed 
as the battle for unity and right waxes hotter; but will rather tighten 
its hold and increase its power, until language, custom, and purpose 
are one, under the control of Liberty, Education, and Religion. An 
Englishman says, " Every one is looking forward with eager and im- 
patient expectation to that destined moment when America will give 
law to the rest of the world." This consummation will be realized 
when Anglo-Saxon supremacy over the New West shall bring its 
multiform elements into complete accord for the Union, and the 
Christian Religion shall control the whole for Humanity and God. 



